A Thanksgiving to Remember
by Crazee Pyro
Summary: Last year's tournament was a blast, and the Winged Guardians are looking forward to another exciting year of blading.  But Mr. Dickinson makes a surprising announcement that could change this young team's plans!  KaiOC ReiOC
1. Spain or Bust

**A Thanksgiving to Remember**

**Hello, again! I know it's a little early, but I'm feeling really thankful right now and decided to get into the spirit of Thanksgiving during the sweltering days of…AUGUST! This is my first holiday fic. And even at that, it's not really a holiday story. It's sort of a continuation off of **_**Twin Psychos' **_**Never Stop My Heart****, only without the Beyblade tournament going on. Anyways, I had fun writing this chapter, and hope you have fun reading it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any of the characters from the series. BUT, I do own Saitori Nishio(and all of her awesomeness) and I own her bit beast, Flarien. If you read my other story, ****Breaking through the Darkness****, you may recognize this as Minami-san's bit beast. However, I liked it so much that I decided to let Saitori also possess the fiery fox. My friend, MuraSakura owns Sakura Petala, **_**Invisible Love**_** owns Hiniku Shinderu, **_**Twin Psychos **_**own Tenshi Hikari and Kaze . **_**Twin Psychos**_** also owns the bit beasts of the rest of the team.**

**A/N: Since there seems to be some confusion about what the differences of print mean, I'll go over them. BOLD writing either means that I, as an author, are speaking to you, as a reader. It could also mean that there is a big emphasis on that particular word. **_**Italicized**_** writing means the subject of the sentence is thinking. ****Underlined**** words also mean an emphasis is put on the word(s). Now, on to the story…**

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**Spain or Bust**

All seemed peaceful and normal from the outside of the Winged Guardian's residence. The fall morning was clear and crisp. Although the sun shone down, it did little to warm the cool, quiet morning. A light breeze rustled the changing leaves on the great oak tree in the front lawn. Two small birds sat on the windowsill of one of the upper floor rooms. But out of nowhere came a loud 'CRASH!' from inside of the great house, followed by a shout. Frightened, the two birds scampered away.

"Hiniku! Gimme my shoe!" Any sane person could recognize that yell from anywhere.

"C'mon, Tenshi! Just let me try it on! I want to see if I grew any from last year!" Hiniku shouted back at her slightly taller friend.

Inside the house, the team's famous captain, Kaze, in her PJs, was sacked out on the couch in front of the blaring TV. She was taking a nap, while clutching a bowel of popcorn. In the kitchen stood a very irritated Sakura, loading the dishes into an already full dishwasher. Traces of Tenshi's cooking were all over the stove and countertops. A visible vein grew on the side of one of her temples as another 'BAM!' was heard from the upstairs hallways.

_Jeez. They stuck me with the dishes, and now they're probably messing up the entire top floor…_she thought, getting more annoyed by each second that ticked by. All of a sudden, a shattering noise made its way down to her ears. It sounded very much like Sakura's favorite lamp, shaped into a purple cherry blossom. It gave her room a soft glow of violet whenever she turned it on. Oh yes. That shattering noise sent the teen over the edge of her patience level. "WAS THAT MY LAMP?! Seriously, guys! Fighting over a shoe, and breaking my lamp!" Sakura yells at the top of her lungs and stomps over to the bottom of the stairs.

Upstairs, the two teenage girls abruptly stop chasing each other and look at one another, terrified. If there's one thing you don't want, is to have an angry Sakura coming after you.

"Don't make me come up there!" Her voice clamors up the stairs once more. Sakura folds her arms crossly, and looks up to see a pouting Hiniku and a triumphant Tenshi appear from around a corner. As the two walk down, Tenshi smirks as she twirls her shoe around on one of her fingers, obviously getting it back from Hiniku's clutches.

"Just so you know, Saku-chan, we didn't break your lamp. It was that one in the guest room." The blue-banged teen speaks matter-of-factly.

"That would've never happened if you would have just let me try on your stupid shoe." Hiniku retorts as Tenshi slips on her icy blue and white DC skate shoe. All of a sudden, Sakura shushes the two bickering teammates and strains to hear the TV in the other room.

_This is KNN, coming to you live, bringing you all of the latest issues in sports every few hours. Today, we have breaking new from the BBA. We'll go to Mr. Dickinson's press conference to get you all of the inside info about next year's Beyblade tournament._

Both Hiniku and Tenshi's ears perked up at this announcement. In an instant, the three were piled into the living room, looking at the TV expectantly.

"SNORE!" Kaze continues sleeping away, soundly.

Suddenly, Mr. Dickinson's face appears on the television screen and he clears his throat.

Hiniku jabs her thumb Kaze's direction. "I think she needs to hear this more than we do."

Tenshi smirks, sneakily. "I'll do the honors…" She creeps over to her team captain and leans over her as if about to whisper something, then shouts, "HEY, KAZE!"

Kaze's eyes fly open and she quickly sits up, popcorn exploding out of the bowel she was still clutching as if her life depended on it. Sakura sweatdrops and points to the TV just as the BBA president began to speak. The team captain's hazed attention turns to the screen.

_Hello everyone. I know you are all anxious to hear the news about next year's Beyblade tournament, so I'll start right away. Due to the amount of tie matches we had at this year's tourney, we've decided that next year, all teams are required to have 5 eligible bladers. This will help to cut down on tie-breaking matches or if one of the bladers are unable to battle. I'm letting everyone know now so that you'll have enough time to find your extra teammate in time for our tournament in Madrid, Spain next year. Thank you._ The news anchor's face pops back onto the screen. _And now in other news, Tokyo's long-time winning streak was broken…_

"WHAT?!" Hiniku, Tenshi, and Sakura yell at the same time.

Kaze yawns and stretches. "What?" she asks, confused.

"How are we going to find a decent enough blader out here that's good enough for next year's tournament?" Sakura exclaims, pacing back and forth across the spacey living room.

Kaze stands up and stretches. "Well, there are some decent bladers over at the park. We could check there first," she says, nonchalantly.

"Come to think of it, Hiniku and I met someone there the other day. She may seem like a carefree girl at first glance, but she's a merciless blader." Tenshi reports, as Hiniku vigorously nods in agreement.

Sakura sweatdrops. "Well, why didn't you introduce us sooner? We wouldn't be in this predicament if you guys were smart enough to-" Just then, the mighty doorbell rings.

"I GOT IT!" Tenshi, Sakura, and Hiniku screech at the same time, and jet off toward the front door. Tenshi and Hiniku leap forward trying to reach the doorknob, and as if on cue, Sakura cooly steps back, as their two heads collide. Both girls fly back, stars circling their heads. Sakura snickers, steps up to the door and opens it. As it glides open, she spots a teenage girl standing there. She wore an open navy blue jacket, its sleeves rolled up to the shoulders, covering a green T-shirt while baggy cargo shorts hung at her hips. A blade-pocket thing was latched around one of her upper arms. Her brown cut-off gloves matched highlights in her black, curly hair. Her dark brown eyes twinkled in a genuine smile, lighting her entire face.

Sakura leans her head out and squints at the girl. "Who're you?" Tenshi and Hiniku's heads pop up from behind their clueless friend.

"Hi, I'm looking for the Winged Guardians. Are you the team captain?" the mystery girl speaks, motioning to Sakura.

"No. That would be me." Kaze says looking speculatively over her teammates' shoulders.

"Oh my gosh!" Hiniku exclaims.

"It's Sai-chan!" Tenshi adds with excitement as the two rush forward to smother their friend in glomps.

"'Sai-chan'?" Sakura repeats, confused.

The mystery teen chuckles slightly while being engulfed by the two girls. "Heh, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Saitori, from down the street. I heard that you were looking for a new teammate."

"Yeah…?" Kaze urges her on.

"Well, I wanna try out for that spot." Saitori continues, brightly.

Sakura and Kaze exchange glances. What did this overly cheerful girl offer the team? Would she be able to last more than 10 seconds in the Beystadium? Kaze looks back at the three excited teens and her gaze rests on Saitori. _Do I know her from somewhere?_

All of a sudden, Kaze raises one eyebrow and begins stroking an imaginary beard like a wise old man considering something important. "So, you think you're up to par with a World-class Beyblade team?" she asks her, a competitive look making its way across her face.

Saitori nods with a smile. "I've been blading almost my whole life. I think I'm good enough."

"Give her a chance, Kaze-kun." Tenshi tries to persuade her team captain.

Kaze looks from Saitori then back to the rest of her team. "All right. I never back down from a battle." she finally gives in. "LET'S GO!" Kaze pumps her fist in the air and starts outside.

Sakura grabs her teammate's collar and pulls her back inside the house. "You might want to get dressed before you go prancing around, challenging people at the park. They'll probably take you a little more seriously, too." She tells her slightly absentminded friend, motioning to Kaze's rubber ducky PJs.

"Oh yeah…Be right back!" Kaze calls, over her shoulder, racing up the stairs toward her room.

Sakura steps outside and holds her half-sleeved arm out. "Nice to meet you, Saitori." she greets, smiling slightly. Saitori gives her a toothy smile and shakes her outstretched hand while Hiniku gasps.

"Wow, Saitori! You actually got Sakura to crack a sincere smile this morning!" Tenshi says, gaping at her friend.

Sakura whirls around to face her "sister". "TenSHI! Shuddup!" she yells, holding a fist up in the air.

"Uh oh, Tenshi. Look out. You made her mad again." Hiniku giggles as she warns her friend, joking along.

Sakura turns to the shortest of the group. "And you, Hiniku! You need to-"

"OK! I'm ready!" Kaze joins the group outside, while closing the door behind her. She was dressed down in a simple T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was neatly pulled into a braid down her back, her silver highlights shimmering in the sunlight.

"Good, now off to the park. MARCH!" Tenshi declares. Her friends follow her lead and head off in the direction of the community's park.

"It'll probably be a little crowded there. Earlier, a bunch of people were already lining up." Saitori speaks up.

"Probably just a bunch of fans wanting to get a sight of an actual Beyblade team." Sakura rolls her eyes.

Hiniku starts pulling Saitori ahead. "C'mon, I wanna see this." she says excitedly.

"Hey, wait up!" Tenshi races after the two.

"Tenshi! Hiniku! I'm not finished with you two yet!" Sakura runs after them.

Kaze stays behind them, walking, but staying a little ways away. She looks at Saitori's laughing, jogging form. _Saitori-chan…have I met you before?_

At the park

Hiniku's mouth drops open. "WHOA!" is all she could say in astonishment. 'Whoa' was definitely right. Countless numbers of kids of all ages filled the park, tinkering with their blades and cameras. Some were even having practice matches in the dish.

Tenshi sets one hand on her hip, a quizzical look in her eye. "And all these people just wanna meet us? Couldn't they have just knocked on our door like normal people would, rather than waste our time with meaningless battles?" she asks, shaking her head.

"I can just tell by looking at them. Most of these losers barely know what Beyblading is, let alone know what it means to be on a team. I don't think any of them are worth our time." Sakura says, waving a hand in the crowd's direction and turning back.

Kaze's face pops up in front of her teammate. "I don't think that 's such a good idea, Saku-chan. We need to find a new teammate soon, or else we won't be able to enter next year's tournament…and you wouldn't be able to see your beloved Rei." she adds the last part with an amused smirk as Sakura stops dead in her tracks. Suddenly, she turns back to the crowd, teeth bared.

"All right. Anyone who stands in the way of my seeing Rei again is in for a major butt kicking. Lemme at 'im!" she shouts, an overly determined (more like protective) glare on her face.

"Eh, I think your pep talk worked, Kaze-kun…." Hiniku states, watching Sakura race over to the dish, looking like she was ready to take anyone on. Kaze shrugs, a triumphant smirk on her lips.

"Did we lose Saitori?" Tenshi questions, looking around. Suddenly, she spots the teen a few yards away "directing traffic".

"Hey! Everyone! All of those who feel like they're strong enough to take the Winged Guardians on and become that one teammate they need…Stand over there! And everybody that just wants pictures and autographs…Go Home!" the dark-haired girl shouts, standing on a bench so that everyone could see her. Groans and sighs were heard as more than half of the crowd dispersed off toward their homes.

"You're so mean to us, Saitori!" a random guy yelled as he left.

"Well, they don't have time for that stuff today." Saitori continues, matter-of-factly.

Tenshi jumps onto the bench next to her friend. "She's right. So deal with it, baka!" the chestnut-haired teen shouts back in response. The crowd just grumbles as they make their way out of the park.

"Come ON people. We don't have all day! Get in a line and let's GO!" Hiniku taps her foot impatiently at the remaining contestants. Tenshi jumps down off of the bench and joins her team, watching their short, angry friend. Surprisingly, the people listen to Hiniku's resounding shouts and outbursts and get into a crude-shaped line.

"Now," Kaze gets her team into a huddle form, "You three take turns with every other battle. And if any of them are strong enough, I'll fight them." She takes a seat on the nearest bench.

"Just, how many are there?" Sakura asks in bewilderment as she looks over the rather large crowd.

"Only about 90." Kaze says nonchalantly.

"ONLY 90? ONLY?! What's that supposed to mean?!" Sakura shouts.

"We'll be here for hours!" Hiniku exasperates.

"Not if we get started soon. I'll go first." Tenshi takes the lead and steps up to the small Beystadium as a boy approaches from the opposite side.

"Hey, Tenshi…" Saitori, from another close by bench, says so that only the team could hear, "This guy, Rob, he has a very aggressive fighting style. Take him out soon or else, you're finished."

Tenshi smiles competitively. "Consider it done." Then, she turns back to the dish and pulls out her turquoise blade and got ready to launch. A few minutes later, Robs blade stops spinning and Tenshi is declared winner.

"Yes!" she grins as her team cheers and congratulates her. "Thank you Sai-chan!" Tenshi glomps her smiling friend.

As Sakura steps up to participate in round 2, Kaze looks over at Saitori, eyebrows risen, impressed with her helpful information.

Saitori continued giving little insights on each opponent, as if she had fought them all and stored vital stats up in her mind. Even late into the afternoon, when the sun was beginning to set, she was still intensely watching each battle with fascination…even though the teammates were complaining and tired.

"Oh my gosh. How many more are there?!" Sakura asks in frustration, covering her eyes. The group had been at it, non-stop all day, and so far, none of the town's bladers were good enough to make the team. In fact, it seemed like those from before who wanted autographs had come back to battle. So the 90-person crowd had turned into 100, then 120…and so on.

"This is the last one…I think." Hiniku staggers up to the stadium.

"My stomach…IT'S CAVING IN! How long till we eat!" Tenshi complains to no one in particular. Hiniku defeats her opponent with ease and comes back to join the rest of her team.

"Actually, now you have one more person to face." Saitori finally steps up to the stadium. "What's this? You guys forgot about me already?" she tilts her head to the side, joking around.

"Saitori, why didn't you face us earlier?" Hiniku questions.

"Yeah, it probably would've saved us a lot of time, and energy from what I've heard about you." Sakura adds.

"What can I say? I was trying to be polite." Saitori shrugs.

"Well I'll battle you." Tenshi sighs, her stomach grumbling.

"No. Tenshi, I've got this battle." Kaze finally speaks, stepping up to the dish for the first time today.

Saitori pull a black launcher from a pocket in her cargo shorts and a matching rip cord from one of her belt loops. Then, casually, she takes a black blade from the brown case latched onto her arm. The weight disk was crimson red and the attack ring was lined with matching red flames on the blades surrounding her bit. Kaze also busies herself with getting ready to launch.

When the two blades land in the stadium, Kaze's immediately begins peacefully, though fiercely spinning in the center as Saitori's circles around and around…waiting.

Kaze's attention wasn't on the battle, though. Her dark eyes were watching Saitori, speculatively. Her opponent's usual laughter-filled face was now drawn in a determined, attentive glare into the dish. _This all seems so familiar…the look in her eye, her fighting style…_

"Kaze's really holding back out there. That 's only about half of her power." Sakura frowns.

"Well, she's just testing her. A defeat isn't necessary in this situation." Tenshi explains. Hiniku just listens and turns her gaze back to the battle.

"Enough of this waiting around. Kila, Attack!" Kaze calls to her gold blade. Obediently, Kila begins to race after Saitori's blade, circling and picking up speed.

"Flarien, dodge that and counter attack." Saitori speaks as the flame on her necklace glows slightly.

As this happens, sparks and flames trail Flarien as it vanishes for a split-second and reappears behind Kila. It then, with great speed, unleashes a series of attacks. Kila withstands it and picks up more speed, knocking Flarien away.

Kaze watches the scene is amazement. _Wow…she was actually able to knock me down a few notches, forcing me to resort to my remaining strength. And she wasn't even using a super attack._

"And now Flarien-"

"Nope." Kaze cuts in.

"Huh?" Saitori says in confusion.

Kaze calls her blade back to her hand and puts it away. "You've already proven, Saitori, in many ways, that you're good enough."  
"W-wait! We aren't even gonna finish? That was it?" Saitori asks, picking Flarien up.

"Welcome to the team." Kaze smiles, holding out her hand. Saitori shakes it; then realization finally dawns on her face.

"Oh my gosh! I did it! I made the team!" she grins leaping into the air.

"I'm so excited!" Hiniku squeals, latching her arms around Kaze and Saitori's neck in an attempted hug.

Tenshi races over next, and joins in the embrace. "You made it Sai-chan! Sogona!"

Sakura jumps over to the group and performs one of her famous glomps, tackling them all to the ground. "Now we have our whole team!" she exclaims as the rest of them squirm and laugh under her grasp. Out of nowhere comes a LOUD grumbling noise, breaking through the fit of giggles, silencing all 5 of them.

"And we need to make it home before I starve to death…" Tenshi declares, hungrily.

"Oh yeah! I'm ordering pizza as soon as we get home!" Sakura lets her friends go and jumps up in excitement.

The sun completely set as the team strolled home. Kaze turns to Saitori. "OK, question. How did you memorize the stats of all those bladers?"

Saitori shrugs. "I don't really know. I'm just able to remember those types of things pretty well. But I'm horrible at remembering anything else."

"And I'm horrible in skipping lunch and not being hungry. Let's go!" Hiniku proclaims, rushing ahead to get there sooner.

"So short…yet so much energy. Where does it all come from?" Sakura teases.

Hiniku stops and turns back, glaring at her. "Just for that, you're paying for dinner." She sticks her tongue out, then starts running again. Her golden highlights streak the air behind her.

"Oh no I'm not!" Sakura growls and races after the teen.

Tenshi shakes her head and turns to her dark-haired friend. "Do you have anything you want to bring, Sai-chan? Luggage? Bags? Clothes? We have a spare room you can move into."

"Oh yeah, I do. I'll go get it." she answers, as a shriek is heard from ahead.

"Ahahaha! Yes you are to paying for it!" Hiniku laughs as she finally reaches the house.

"Not if I get to the phone first!" Sakura shouts back. There's a blur of white from Hiniku's shirt as she enters the house, followed by a purple blur, Sakura hot on her heels.

"We'd better go protect Hiniku from Sakura's giant frying pan…" Kaze tells Tenshi, starting toward the house.

"…again." Tenshi finishes Kaze's sentence, following her lead.

Saitori's eyes widen. "Giant frying pan?" she repeats.

"You won't believe it till you see it." Tenshi replies.

"We'll see you in a few minutes, Saitori. Until then!" Kaze calls over her shoulder, flashing a peace sign as she and Tenshi dash off.

Saitori shakes her head, chuckling lightly as she turns toward her rented apartment down the street.

As she walks in, frigid air, cooler than outside, hits her face. O_ur building manager still didn't turn on the heat like he said he would. Does he know how cold it is in here? It's nearly winter outside!_ Upon entering, her eyes sweep the one room apartment. The walls were barren and the dusty carpet needed to be vacuumed. But one thing that would stick out to any visitor was the suffocating silence.

No one else was there.

The only sound heard came from the kitchen sink where a constant drip fell from the old faucet.

But to Saitori, this was normal.

She strode across the squeaky floorboards toward her bedroom, where her only belongings were situated in a dismal fixture. Reaching to click on the light switch, no light fills the room. Then she realizes that she didn't buy the much-needed light bulb at the convenience store today; she was at the park.

Sighing, Saitori sinks down to her creaky bed, the eerie darkness that she had never quite gotten used to settled upon the quiet, gloomy room. She had never liked coming home to the nothingness; so she spent most of her time down at the park where she could forget her being lonely. Long ago, she had harshly learned that a house isn't a home if there's no one to share it with. And it seemed like forever since she had had one of those places called home.

Digging under her bed for a moment, she pulled out the BBA poster she had picked up from the blading shop earlier that week. It had a picture of the Winged Guardians on it, from that year's tournament. Ever since the tournament, she had resolved to become one of them someday. Beyblading had been her life since that day, long ago, when her real home had turned into just a house.

Shaking her head, as if to abandon those frightful memories carved in her memories from her thoughts, Saitori begins to pack up her backpack and small duffel bag. Lastly, she gently takes a book up from beside her bed and hugs it for a moment. It reads: "Photo Album". To Saitori, this is the only thing that connects her to her past…back when it wasn't so forlorn. Looking down at it, a faint smile breaks through her longing face. _I'll be able to fill the rest of this book with tons of happy pictures now._ She remembers how many times the Winged Guardians made her laugh and smile today.

Leaving her room basically empty, except for the bed, Saitori walks out into the "living room" again. _I wish I could leave this place looking a little more presentable, but this is the best it's going to get. _She recalls how she found the apartment manager's brother just months ago. After finding out she had just arrived in town and had nowhere to live, he had somehow persuaded his brother to let her stay in one of the apartments. The owner had given in, but not being as kind as his brother, gave her the worst in the entire complex. Upon the brother's disapproval, the owner had grudgingly agreed to let her stay without paying the monthly rent until she got on her feet. But the owner had tried to get at her in other ways like: not turning on the heat, not fixing the sink, and letting the shower only work with cold water during the winter months. But to Saitori, this was a major blessing. Who else would come upon such a nice man on the first day arriving in Japan to let a sixteen-year-old have an apartment at his brother's complex? No matter how much she had thought, she couldn't come up with a sufficient way to say thanks for his kindness.

So now, about to leave to her new home, Saitori scribbled out a thank-you note, reached into her wallet, and pulled out part of the money she had been saving from her part-time job. It was enough for all 7 months she had stayed in the apartment and one extra month. Putting it on the table, where she knew the owner would find it, Saitori took one last look at her apartment and headed outside.

Catching sight of the Winged Guardian's house, her brown eyes glow in the night's darkness. She pulls Flarien out of her pocket and grins. _It all seems too good to be true, Flarien. But it's happening. Can you believe it? We finally belong somewhere._

"Hey, Saitori!" a voice calls from behind.

Looking back, she sees Kaze jogging toward her, a bag from the local electronics store swaying back and forth from one hand. "Hi! Let me guess…video game?" Saitori asks, motioning to the bag.

"Nope. Not this time." Kaze answers, leading Saitori up to the front door and opening it.

Immediately, Saitori was hit with the warmth that emanated from the well lit home.

"Stay here for a minute. Tenshi will show you up to your room." Kaze didn't have to tell her twice. Saitori was speechless at what she saw just standing there.

"Hey, guys! She's here!" Kaze calls as she walks into the kitchen where the rest of the team was. As their team captain enters, they erupt into low, excited whispers.

In the house's front hallway, shiny hardwood was beneath Saitori's black Adidas shoes. A rich brown bookshelf full of informational Beyblading books of all sizes was in the conjoining room. The walls were covered in a creamy white paint, the edgings near the ceiling designed in cattails and tiny frogs. Matching curtains were draped from the huge window in the next room, just above the plush sofa and easy chairs. But what caught Saitori's eye the most were the many pictures on the wall. One was with a younger Tenshi and Sakura laughing as Tenshi blew out eleven candles on her birthday cake. The one next to it was with Hiniku falling asleep in front of the TV, a game controller in her hand, as Kaze continued to play some action game, with a fully determined face, even though the clock on the wall said, "3:41 am". The third in line was one of all four of them on the first day upon arriving at the Beyblade tournament that year in the cold streets of Russia. All of them looked extremely cold as they tried to smile through their chattering teeth. In the next frame was a collage of photos. The one that stood out the most was one of Sakura holding up a huge frying pan, glaring menacingly at the person holding the camera as if to say, "Take that picture and you're dead."

_Man. That thing is __scary__! I'd hate to be chased by one of those._ Her eyes widen at the sight of it.

"I see you like our pictures, Sai-chan. You'll be up there soon enough." Tenshi says as Saitori turns to face her new teammate.

"Yeah…can't wait." she replies with a smile.

"Come one. I'll show you to your room." Tenshi chirps, starting up the stairs. Saitori follows, taking everything in as she walks. After pointing each room out on the way, Tenshi reaches the end of the hallway and stops in front of the last door. She turns to face Saitori. "Prepare to meet…" she whips around and opens the door and exclaims, "Your New Room!" throwing out her arms, striking a dramatic pose, but stopping as a crunch is heard from beneath her feet. Both girls look down and see a bunch of shattered glass all over the carpeted floor in front of the nightstand.

Tenshi's eyes widen as she scrambles to get a broom and dustpan. "Oh…heh heh. Forget you just saw that." She begins sweeping it up as Saitori steps into the room.

"How did that happen?" she asks, motioning to the pile being dumped into her small wastebasket near the doorway.

"Hiniku and I…we were messing around this morning and broke the lamp. But we'll get you another one!" Tenshi answers brightly.

Sakura's head pops into the doorway. "Until then, use this!" She flicks on a light switch.

As light illuminates the darkness, Saitori looks around the spacey room in amazement. It wasn't the usual rectangle shape, but more of a pentagon frame. Across the room from the door was a wall length window, a bench extending from its bottom, a perfect seat for looking out and thinking. In front of the window, a fluffy bed was lain; the comforter was checkered with brown and green, matching the curtains covering the top part of the window. On opposite ends of the room, was a brown nightstand and dresser. The plush carpet appeared to be grass green while a rug placed in front of the bed was chocolate brown. At the top of all five walls were painted forest green leaves, dancing in the wind, the closet doors were a matching green, while the rim was painted in brown. The pure white walls gave the entire room an open, expansive feeling, welcoming anyone. But to top it off, (literally!) Saitori's widened eyes move up to the ceiling to find where the source of light was coming from. What she found was a breathtaking view of a beautiful ceiling light, a fan sat motionless around it, each propeller thing hung gracefully in the shape of almost weightless, white feathers, green lining the center of each.

"Wow…" Saitori breathes in, looking around, taking a seat on her new bed and setting her bags on the floor next to her feet. "Well you can't get much better than this!" she finally grins. She looks toward the two sisters in the doorway. Both had matching smiles, clearly pleased at Saitori's reaction.

"Glad you like it, Saitori-chan!" Sakura says, enthusiastically.

"I don't think you'll have to buy that lamp, this is great just how it is." Saitori speaks to Tenshi just as the mighty doorbell rings…again.

"I GOT IT!" Tenshi, Sakura, and Hiniku, from downstairs, shriek at the same time. In a flash, both girls were gone from the doorway, Saitori following soon after. But reaching the top of the stairs, she looks down just as Hiniku takes the stack of pizzas from the delivery guy. Kaze takes it from her and strolls back into the kitchen, hungrily smelling the fresh scent the whole way, a satisfied smile plastered on her face. Hiniku says something to the man while pointing to Sakura who had just reached the bottom of the stairs along with Tenshi. The shorter teen steps away from the door, grinning ear to ear as Sakura pulls out her wallet, glaring at Hiniku.

Sakura closes the door after handing him the money and lets out a long, ragged sigh, trying to calm down, but still glares at her giggling teammate. "Hiniku, you're really lucky I'm hungry right now, and almost out of energy. Let's just say that."

"Well the pizza isn't gonna eat itself, as long as Kaze doesn't finish it off while we're standing out here." Tenshi rolls her eyes as she starts into the kitchen. Saitori follows the other two as they enter the clean dining room. The 4 see Kaze starting on her second piece. As the others grab napkins, plates, and their favorite slice of pizza, Kaze grins.

"Now this is good stuff. It won't kill you like that cardboard the lunch ladies call food at schools back home." She takes another bite out of the warm pizza.

A half an hour later, when all was left of their late dinner was boxes, Tenshi pats her stomach with a content smile. The group was in the living room, on the plush couch and chairs. She was sitting lazily on a sky blue beanbag chair, while the TV screen was illuminated with some late night movie.

"Saitori, we as a team have something to give you." Kaze finally says, getting everyone's attention. Their captain reaches behind a sofa cushion and pulls out the electronics store bag from earlier. She crosses the room to where their newest member sat. Surprised, Saitori takes the bag and looks around at the rest of the team, confusion in her dark eyes.

Sakura sits forward, impatiently. "C'mon, open it! If that bag was in my hands, it would've been shredded by now." she urges her on.

Curiosity overtaking her, Saitori reaches in the bag and pulls out…a digital camera. Her eyes widen as she catches her breath and looks back up at her smiling friends.

"So you like it right?!" Tenshi asks, excitedly

"We all combined our money to get it for you. Except Sakura, who was conned into buying our dinner…" Kaze puts in. Hiniku lets a small giggle escape as she comes to one side of Saitori's chair. Sakura's oak brown hair whips around as she turns to face Hiniku with a glare.

"Thanks guys…but I can't accept this. You've done so much for me already." Saitori shakes her head.

Tenshi leaps up and places one hand on her hip. "Sure you can. Just think of it as a welcome-to-the-team present. One that you can use to capture all of our most embarrassing moments." A sneaky grin crosses over her face as Saitori catches her drift and nods.

"Yeah! And I can help you set it up!" Hiniku exclaims as the dark-haired teen tears open the box.

"Are you sure you didn't go a little too far on that last comment? I don't want pictures of my tripping over a teddy bear all over the wall." Sakura cringes at the thought as Tenshi takes a seat next to her sister on the couch.

The icy-blue banged teen shrugs. "Well, I had to convince her to keep it. Besides, it's not like she's gonna have it on her 24/7. I was only half kidding." Tenshi smirks as she looks over at Saitori's chair where Kaze and Hiniku huddle over her new camera. Hiniku slips the memory card and batteries in their slots.

"So that means you were half-serious?" Sakura asks, raising one eyebrow. Tenshi just jokingly smiles as they watch Saitori try to turn it on only to find that it won't respond. "Must I remind you of your morning head of mane? You want those scary pictures plastered everywhere?" Sakura crosses her arms as Tenshi's eyes widen, looking back at the other three. After inspecting her camera, Kaze finds that Hiniku put the batteries in upside-down.

"Maybe I overdid it a little bit. Her head is full of crazy ideas now because of me, isn't it?" Tenshi flinches.

"Yep." Sakura says simply.

"Shut-up." Tenshi jokingly punches her sister's arm. A cheer is heard as Saitori finally turns her camera on.

"Success!" Hiniku exclaims as the light from the little screen comes on, lighting Saitori's awaiting face.

Kaze sweatdrops. "And who is it that put the batteries in right side-up?"

"Who cares?! I put the memory card in, didn't I? Doesn't that count for something?!" Hiniku retorts.

"Not really. You can actually turn the camera on even if the card isn't in" Kaze points out.

Hiniku starts to say something, then stops as she realizes that there's nothing to say to get out of this corner she's backed herself into. So instead she just sticks her tongue out at her team captain.

After getting used to the controls, Saitori looks up. "Hey, I want a picture of everyone. This is the first day as a member of the team, so I want to remember today." she announces. So setting her camera on the coffee table propped up by some books, and focused on the couch, Saitori glances at the team. " I'm gonna set it on a timer so I can jump in before it takes the picture." So after pressing a few buttons, she leaps over to the couch and takes a seat next to Hiniku.

"OW! You're sitting on my hand!" she screeches as Saitori jumps up in surprise.

"Sorry." Saitori sits cross-legged in front of the teams' feet.

"Does my hair look OK?" Tenshi asks, worriedly, hand combing it.

"It's fine, Tenshi." Kaze answers, calmly as she turns to face the camera.

Sakura looks away and sneezes. A chorus of 'Bless you's erupt from the team.

"Hey, get ready!" Saitori exclaims as the rest of the group leans in, posing. They stay in that same stance for 30 seconds before dropping their poses in frustration.

"Shouldn't it have taken the picture by now, Sai-chan?" Tenshi questions.

"Yeah…" she answers, getting up and looking at the camera screen.

"I hope it didn't take it when I sneezed…" Sakura murmurs.

"Um, you guys aren't going to believe this. It was on video mode…"Saitori looks up at the group as they all freeze.

"What?!" Tenshi shrieks.

"You mean it recorded up posing like that for 15 hours, like idiots?!" Hiniku over exaggerates.

"It was more like a minute, Hiniku." Kaze corrects her teammate.

"And me sneezing my head off?!" Sakura asks in disbelief. Saitori watches the clip over again on the screen and laughs while nodding. In a second, Sakura was off the couch and had snatched the camera out of Saitori's hand. "Stupid new technology! Where's the delete button?!" she yells, glaring at the "new technology" and pushing every visible button.

"That's for me to know and you never to find out." Saitori retorts, snatching the camera back and hitting 'save'.

"Noooo!" the rest of the team shout, lunging for it.

"No!" Saitori glares, hunching over it, protecting it from her friends. After a few minutes of playing a one sided game of keep away with the camera, they realize that she was not giving it up to anyone or anything.

"Just let her keep the stupid video, guys." Kaze groans as the group begins their 5th lap throughout the house, chasing Saitori.

"Agreed…" Hiniku pants. Sakura leans one hand on the wall, catching her breath as Tenshi sinks into her comfy beanbag chair with a sigh.

"Fine, but on one condition," the blue banged teen says.

"You can't let anyone see it for any reason…I mean it, Saitori." Sakura orders her curly-haired teammate.

Saitori faces the rest of the team with a mock innocent look. "What, you think I would show that clip to someone? Keep in mind I was in it, too."

"Based on that smirk on your face, I'd say yeah. I think you would try it if you got the chance." Hiniku states, a sweatdrop forming at the side of her head.

Saitori flashes an animated grin at her friends. "Don't worry, I won't…" the team lets out a sigh of relief, "…Unless…" they all stiffen at that one word, "you do something to annoy and/or embarrass me." A satisfied smile plastered on her lips.

"So basically, you're threatening us with blackmail?" Kaze concludes.

"I'll take that into consideration." Tenshi visibly gulps, knowing that most of her "wonderfully awful ideas" were out of the question.

Sakura just yawns, tiredly. "I think I'm going to hit the sack. It's been a long day."

"Oh that's one more thing I've got to warn you about. I'm either brain dead or in a really bad mood in the morning, so you know, if I snap or something, don't take it to heart. I'll try to tame myself." Saitori explains, sheepishly.

"Understood." Tenshi makes a mental note: do not mess with Sai-chan in the morning.

"Now to figure out the shower situation. I usually shower at night, so I have the bathroom all to myself since everyone else uses it in the morning." Hiniku brings up.

"Then get that out of your head, because I take showers at night, too." Saitori replies matter-of-factly.

"I vote we have pancakes in the morning! All in favor say 'Aye'!" Tenshi exclaims. A chorus of 'aye's ring out in response…all except Kaze.

"And I say we need to get our heads back in the big picture." The team captain cuts in, putting her point across the board. "We have our whole team now, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be practicing more. Even though the tournament's over for this year, we have a lot of time to get ready for next year's competition. We should be using it wisely." Kaze looks up and sees Tenshi and Hiniku bickering over what flavor of pancake syrup tastes better while Sakura stood by, laughing at their idiotic conversation. Saitori, however, was listening intently on every word her team captain spoke. Kaze sweatdroped as she looked over at the other three. "They're not paying attention to me are they?" Saitori shrugs in response. In an instant, Kaze was in between the arguing teammates. "So I see no reason why we shouldn't start training first thing in the morning, right?" she looks at each of them squarely in the face.

"Of course, Kaze." Sakura replies, then silently urges the others to respond, likewise.

"So I guess there's only one more thing to straighten out." Saitori says. All heads turn to her, questioningly. "Who gets the shower first, tonight!" she yells, already halfway up the stairs.

"Hey! No fair! Why do you get a head start?!" Hiniku shouts after the curly-haired girl, her legs obviously shorter than Saitori's as she raced after her friend. Sakura lets out another big yawn as she follows the two upstairs.

Tenshi turns to her friend. "Kaze-kun? Are you going to head up, too?"

Kaze shakes her head. "A TV special is coming on tonight, and I can't miss it." she replies, an excited, crazed look reaching her pearly, silver eyes.

"Well good luck with that." Tenshi rolls her eyes, a joking tone reaching her voice.

Kaze nods vigorously, then pauses and frowns. "Wait, was that sarcasm, Tenshi?" The blue-banged teen smirks at her captain. Scurrying noises were heard from the upstairs as Hiniku and Saitori race around, searching for towels and soap. Kaze glances down at her watch and jumps. "Uh oh. It's about to start."

Tenshi shakes her head at her TV-addicted friend. "OK, Kaze. Just make sure you get some rest tonight, OK? Even you, my friend, need sleep." Tenshi pats her shoulder as she turns towards the stairs. Kaze nods once, acknowledging the sisterly concern in her voice. A scrambling noise is heard from upstairs as another shout erupts.

"Hey! I forgot which room was the bathroom! Argh! Which one is it?!" Saitori says, in frustration.

A door at the top of the staircase opens and Sakura sticks her tired head out. "It's the second on your right." She replies as she disappears back into her room, the door closing behind her.

"No it's not! That's Tenshi's room!" the dark-haired teen exclaims as she spots the "Elf crossing" sign on the door.

"I guess Saku really is tired. She's not one to get mixed up with directions." Tenshi sighs as Kaze nods in agreement. "I'd better go show Sai-chan where the bathroom is, again. Good-night, Kaze!" she says in a singsong voice, starting up the stairs.

As Kaze walks back into the living room, Hiniku's angry yell is heard. She chuckles to herself as she settle into the couch and turns on the TV, realizing that Saitori won the "race" to the shower. _Well Kaze, you've done it now; team captain of five. This year's going to be interesting... Oh! My show's starting!_

4 hours later

Kaze finally turns off the TV and yawns while stretching. Almost sleepwalking, she makes her way up the stairs. Trudging through the silent hallway, she hears a faint sound of soft music as she passes Tenshi's room. She smiles, knowing that her friend couldn't sleep without her iPod playing in the background. She pauses in front of her own door and looks at the door next to hers at the end of the hallway, slightly opened. _Hm, Saitori's room…_. Peeking through the crack, she sees Saitori sleeping soundly in a mass of blankets, her shiny digital camera on the nightstand next to a black photo album. Kaze laughs softly as she remembers how excited Saitori got when she first caught sight of the camera. _I wonder if we'll ever get to see her old pictures._ The room was entirely dark except for the light coming from the doorway, catching Saitori's peaceful face in the yellow glow. _She seems like a really good friend. Not to mention she's a perfect addition to our team._ Kaze's mind wanders back to their battle earlier that evening and how familiar it all felt. Looking back at Saitori with slight confusion in her eyes, she remembers when she, herself, was a small girl, blading in the park with…someone. Who was that person? _Where do I know you from, Saitori?_ After a few seconds, Kaze rubs her temples and yawns. _Aw nevermind, I'm too tired to think. Now to answer that bed, calling my name…_ She abandons Saitori's doorway and heads "next door" to her room, throws on some pajamas, and drops into her bed, instantly falling asleep.

2 weeks later

"Hiniku! Not again! My shoe is not your measuring tool! Give it back!" Tenshi's voice wafted down to poor Sakura's ears.

Her oak colored hair was pulled up into a simple ponytail, ready to tackle the morning of training. She wore her normal royal purple shirt, one sleeve slightly off the shoulder while on her other arm was a half-sleeve, black tiger stripes lined the back and front of the shirt. Dark blue jeans covered her legs, a white tiger emblem on one of her thighs glared ferociously, as silver chains dangle "harmlessly" from the belt loops. Her comfortable black and purple Etnies were propped up on the chair next her as she sighs at her bickering friends. Sakura sat at the kitchen table, picking at a cold Pop Tart, and annoyed glint in her dark eyes.

"Hey, 2 weeks can do a lot to a growing girl's height!" Hiniku shouted back at her friend who was in hot pursuit.

"They're at it again?" Kaze asked in exasperation as she walked in. She was wearing her normal red jacket, a majestic white tiger on the back. It covered a T-shirt; jeans hung at her hips, while a design, similar to Sakura's white tiger, was placed on her slim, muscle-clad leg, apparent that she had done running at some time in the past. Her dark hair, highlighted in a silvery moon color every few inches, was braided low, hanging down till about her mid back. Kaze's wise, pearly eyes shined in the morning light coming from the sliding French doors leading into the backyard.

Sakura shoots her a helpless look as another crash comes from upstairs. "I don't see why she insists on stealing Tenshi's shoe. It's not like she can feel a difference when she puts it on. She acts like she's subconscious about her height or something." Sakura frowns.

"Maybe it's because we tease her about it so much." Kaze shrugs.

The oak-haired teen looks at her team captain, amusement filling her eyes. "Between you and me, I think she's had one too many bonks on the head. Like that one time the other day, during training," she stops to let out a few seconds of rising laughter, "when we went to the park to have lunch." Kaze chuckled as the scene began to replay in her head.

_Flashback_

_The team was seated on a bench out looking the blading area as a large group of ammature bladers approached the dish and seemingly started their own mini-tournament. All of a sudden, Hiniku jumps up, her napkin and food flying from her lap._

_"Whoa! That's a huge __thong__ of people!" she says to herself more than anyone. Tenshi's mouth drops open as Saitori and Sakura start busting out laughing, Kaze just sweatdroped. "What?!" Hiniku yells, oblivious._

_In a second, Tenshi was beside her shorter friend, and amused look on her face. "It's called a __throng__ of people, Hiniku, not a __thong__." And with that, Tenshi firmly hit down on Hiniku's head, hammer-style, knocking her into a sitting position._

_End Flashback_

Kaze and Sakura laugh at this memory as a very drained-looking Saitori trudges into the room.

She wore her regular blading outfit. A short sleeved navy blue jacket hung open, covering a forest green shirt while baggy, brown cargo shorts surrounded her hips, pockets lining the outside of both the shorts and the jacket. Her chocolate-toned Adidas shoes were perfect for her sudden split-second moments of running. On her forearm was a brown pocket for holding her Beyblade. Her dark, curly hair, held in a green headband came to her shoulders. Walnut-colored highlights covered every other lock, contrasting with the other black curls.

"Good morning, Saitori." Sakura greets, as she wipes away the tears from her laughter. Kaze also nods in her direction in acknowledgement. Saitori, however, doesn't answer, but drops into a chair and stares at nothing in particular, a vacant look in her eyes. Expecting that response, Sakura turns back to Kaze and thrusts a pile of letters at her. "I picked up the mail a while ago." She nods to it and says, "One of them actually look important."

Kaze smiles a thank you and grab a cup of orange juice as Saitori's face, encircled by her arms, goes 'smack' on the table. As Kaze walks into the living room, concluding that this was a brain-dead morning for Saitori, Sakura tries to rouse her friend. The group had gotten used to Saitori's unpredictable moods in the morning as they had gotten used to having her as a part of the team. Her remembering skills were extremely helpful as were her merciless fire attacks in battle.

Kaze flops down on the couch, taking a sip of orange juice as she flipped through the mail. Most of it was junk marked 'Resident', but one at the bottom of the pile caught her eye. "Kaze " was typed onto the front, and upon looking at it further, her sharp eyes noticed the faint BBA logo printed in the background of the envelope. _Uh oh…_Kaze frowned, then turned the envelope over, ripping the top open and pulls out the typed, written out letter.

* * *

**What is in this mysterious letter that Kaze-kun opens? Why does Saitori have such weird moods in the morning? Is Hiniku really getting taller? Why are Tenshi's shoes mentioned so much in this chapter? Will Sakura's embarrassing sneeze be shown to someone as blackmail? And where exactly does the Thanksgiving part of this story come in? All this and more will be revealed in the next chapter(s) of ****A Thanksgiving to Remember****…well maybe not the thing about the shoes…. Please review!**


	2. Chaos in the Airport

**Hi! Wow, Chapter two is finally up! This one took me a long time...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, but I own Saitori and all her koolness, and I own Flarien, her awesomest Bit Beast!**_** Twin Psychos **_**own Kaze and Tenshi.**_**Invisible Love**_** own Hiniku and Sakura. Tenshi owns the team's Bit Beasts.**

* * *

**Chaos in the Airport**

"Where are we?!" Sakura shrieks for the 75th time that morning. Tenshi had been counting.

"How would I know? Obviously the stupid map was printed upside-down! Who can find their way around Tokyo, Japan with a messed up map?!" Hiniku retorts to her friend.

"Um,you were the one holding it the wrong way. I could've- AH! SQUIRRIL!" the oak-haired teen screeches as she yanks the steering wheel to the right, nearly missing the innocent-looking mammal in the middle of the street.

"Ugh, my head! Would you mind driving straight for a while, Saku?" Saitori speaks from the backseat of the rented car.

"Sorry, I'm beginning to think we're not even on the road anymore." Sakura replies, looking around at the dense forest of trees that Hiniku's "navigational skills" had led them to. Tenshi sighs. This had gone on for over an hour, and the team had so far gotten nowhere.

She wore a white tank top with a blue phoenix on the back, a sky blue long-sleeve under it, since the weather was getting cold in this fall season. Jeans covered her legs down to her icy blue and white shoes, as a white belt hung lopsidedly from her hips. Her rich, chestnut brown hair fell to about mid-back length and her icy blue bangs hovered in front of her forehead. From Tenshi's middle-backseat view, she could see the entire group at a pretty good angle.

To her left was Kaze, the captain and close friend of their team, now numbering five. The dark-haired, silver highlighted neko-jin had her head resting on the window as she dozed off, tuning out the bickering and swerving that seemed to get on everyone else's nerves.

On Tenshi's right side sat Saitori, the newest addition to the Winged Guardians. The usual bright-eyed, curly haired girl was leaned forward, her knees propping up her elbows as she rubbed her temples, nursing her throbbing headache, a pained expression reaching her face. Tenshi looked at her friend, sympathetically, wishing she'd brought some Tylenol or something to help with Saitori's mild form of carsickness.

In the passenger seat sat a very flustered Hiniku. She had a pure white cami on under a navy blue V-neck, cute white cut-off gloves popping out of the long sleeves. Her black pants had a small silver star on her left pocket, and only one of her black and white Chuck Norris shoes were visible as one of her leg were pulled up under her. Hiniku's normally limp, fire-highlighted hair seemed to be standing on end as she frantically flipped the map this way and that, her teeth clenched in determination. If not for the situation, Tenshi might have laughed out loud at her friend's hilarious expression.

She turned her attention to the driver's seat of the car, her gaze resting on her non-DNA-related sister. Sakura looked back and forth between the map and the road, trying to find the way out of the freakishly dark woods. Tenshi's gaze softened, noticing the faint dark circles under Saku's eyes. She quietly realized that her sister had worked probably the hardest to get the team to where they were right now in only four hours. After knowing Sakura for most of her life, Tenshi knew the oak-haired teen to have a soft spot for her friends out of difficult situations.

**Flashback**

Kaze flops down on the couch, taking a sip of orange juice as she flipped through the mail. Most of it was junk marked 'Resident', but one at the bottom of the pile caught her eye. "Kaze" was typed onto the front, and upon looking at it further, her sharp eyes noticed the faint BBA logo printed in the background of the envelope._Uh oh…_Kaze frowned, then turned the envelope over, ripping the top open and pulls out the typed, written out letter. What she found was totally not what she was expecting.

The letter read, "Hey Kaze, how's it going? Wow, I haven't talked to you in forever! How's the team? Are they as lively as I remember? After the tournament, the PPB All Starz separated for a while. Apparently Rick was annoyed with hanging out with 'stupid kids' for the past month at the tourney. So I've been with Tyson since then. Heh, we've been having a great time; kind of like before we all parted into different teams. So that got me thinking. With Thanksgiving only a week away, why not reunite the Bladebreakers for the holiday? I got in contact with Rei; he seemed excited at the idea. Tyson didn't really want to invite Kai, he thought the 'sourpuss' would ruin our fun. But eventually, he resigned after something happened…. Well, I bet you're wondering why I'm telling you this. After the tournament, I've been trying to find an occasion for the Winged Guardians to get together with us and hang out. It'd be so cool if you could all come for Thanksgiving next week. We could meet your new member and make plans for next year's tourney. I hope you and the team can make it here. It'll be awesome! Your friend, Max Tate. P.S. Sorry if this letter looks kind of professional…I couldn't find any other paper."

Kaze re-reads the letter, raising an eyebrow. _That sounds fun._ "Hey, guys! I got a letter! Who wants to read it?" she calls in a singsong voice, waving the envelope above her head.

Within two seconds, the letter was snatched from her hand. Hiniku stood by the leather comfy chair, the paper open in her hands, reading. On her left foot was her own shoe, but on her right foot was a familiar-looking blue and white DC. In another second, Tenshi was looking over Hiniku's shoulder at the letter, only one shoe was on her left foot, while her other foot was clad in a blue sock. Soon after, Sakura joined the three in the living room. Somehow, she had gotten Saitori walking (or rather stumbling) under her own power. The curly-haired teen collapsed into a chair, staring at the room, a blank look in her eyes. Sakura also joins Tenshi and Hiniku in reading the letter.

"Whoa! Let's go!" Hiniku says, finishing reading first.

Sakura nods. "It'll be nice to have an actual Thanksgiving dinner. Last year's was…unforgettable." She cringes as the memory crosses through her mind.

Tenshi makes a face. "Oh, come on. The turkey wasn't that bad. I just cooked it for the amount of time it said to on the plastic wrap thing."

"Wrong, Tenshi. It said to let it defrost for 6 hours, not to cook it for that long." Kaze points out, remembering what the package said after the Thanksgiving dinner.

**A Flashback within a Flashback**

Tenshi hums to herself as she looks at the turkey she had just bought form the store. Dropping the 10lb frozen bird into a large pan, she plops it into the oven and turns on the timer. She turns and happily walks into the next room still humming.

**End Flashback within a Flashback**

"I almost ripped my teeth out trying to bite into it, Tenshi!" Hiniku rubs her jaw in exasperation.

"So I messed up the turkey, so what?" Tenshi scowls.

"It's ok, Tensh. Everyone make mistakes. I think we've recovered from the turkey incident." Sakura pats her sister's shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile.

"So what do you think, guys? Should we go on vacation from training and spend Thanksgiving with the Bladebreakers?" Kaze grins.

"Yes!" Both Sakura and Hiniku pump their fists into the air.

"I don't know. We really do need to practice our blading. We can't miss the chance to get into the tournament next year." Tenshi speaks indecisively.

"We've been training everyday for the past few weeks. I think we deserve a break for a little while." Kaze tries to persuade her dedicated teammate.

"How about you, Saitori? Want to go to Japan to meet up with the Bladebreakers?" Hiniku asks her friend.

A small flicker of recognition lights her dark eyes as she wakes up slightly, searching her hazed mind for where she had heard the name before. "Bladebreakers? Aren't they that one team from that one place with those people on it?" she asks. The Winged Guardians sweatdrop at her response.

"They're an old team that split up in order to enter the tournament a couple years ago." Sakura explains to the still sleepy girl.

"Yes and they want to meet you." Hiniku thrusts the letter at Saitori.

Sluggishly, Saitori's eyes move across the paper, sleep still being blinked away. "Tyson, Rei, Kai, Max…Hm. You say you met them at the tournament?" she asks after reading it all. All four of them nod. Saitori looks back down at the letter, noting the amount of time the snail mail took to reach the house. "Well, I guess we'd better start packing. Thanksgiving is only two days away. I want to meet this team, too. They'll probably be pretty good competitors at next year's tournament, huh?" she comes fully awake now, excitement filling her eyes.

"Heck yeah!" Hiniku nods furiously.

"What do you say, Tenshi?" Kaze asks.

"I say…let's get there early. Two days shouldn't hurt anything, should it?" Tenshi finally consents. The team jumps up, animatedly. "If we practice everyday."

"No problem, Tensh." Sakura grins, aware that no time was vacation time for her sister. She always had to stay busy somehow.

All of a sudden, Hiniku's eyes widen and her mouth drops open as she looks down at her feet. "Oh my gosh…I just realized, I was able to race down the stairs without falling flat on my face with Tenshi's shoe on! And look!" she lifts her right foot up so everyone could see, "My toes are touching the front of the shoe! Ah! I knew it! I did grow in the past two weeks! In your face, Tenshi!" Hiniku smirks at her now-equal-in-height friend.

"Whatever. Just give me my shoe back." Tenshi swipes her DC from Hiniku's risen foot.

Sakura hangs up the phone she had just been talking on. "There's a plane going to Tokyo that we can make if we hurry." she speaks.

"When does it leave?" Saitori asks, curoiusly.

She scratches her back, nervously. "That's the thing…2 hours." Sakura closes her eyes, anticipating the team's response.

"What?! AAAAAHH!" Tenshi, Saitori, and Hiniku all exclaim at the same time, racing for the stairs.

"I think we can postpone practice for today." Kaze says, following the shouting girls up the stairs.

"We could just take the next flight in 5 hours…" Sakura mutters under her breath.

Kaze's acute hearing picks it up. "No. Let's take he early one. You never know what might happen."

_30 minutes later_

"There's a parking space!" Hiniku's voice bursts out of nowhere, shattering the intense concentration of the 4 other girls as the desperately searched for a parking space in the airport's crowded parking lot. In another 10 seconds, the five of them were dragging suitcases and bags toward the luggage Security Check. After they were freed from the extra weight of their bags, they had a seat in the bustling market way facing the large windows, looking at the runway.

"Well, this is surprising. This is the fastest I've ever seen us get anywhere. Who knew we'd have an hour to spare?" Tenshi comments, watching a plane take off down the long stretch of road before lifting into the air.

"What should we do?" Saitori asks.

"Shop!"

"Eat!"

"Train!"

Sakura and Saitori look up to see the three others pointing in all different directions. Hiniku towards the mini tourist shops along the busy stretch of walking space. Kaze's finger was pointed to the crowded food court. And Tenshi pointed right down the middle of the…people? The team looked at the blue-banged teen, question marks in their eyes.

"C'mon! This whole airport is a training ground. Look: ramps, escalators, people, obstacles…who said we had to practice in a Beystadium?" Tenshi says, a smirk worming its way across her face. Realization dawns on the group's faces. Tenshi hadn't forgotten that they had missed training today. Knowing her, she would have an extra hard workout in store to make up for lost time.

"How about we do all three…" Sakura speaks carefully, trying to find a way to somewhat dodge the no doubt intense training that was just about to occur. The other three furiously nod, catching Sakura's drift.

Looking around at the team, Tenshi shrugs. "Guess I'm outnumbered. But, I have a challenge." The group's ears perk up at the word. "We have to go to the shops and restaurants with our blade still spinning beside us. In order to do that, we have to dodge people, walls, polls, and/or other barriers without our Beyblade hitting anything or stop spinning." Tenshi says, her eyes scanning their surroundings, clearly making this up on the spot.

"Hm…I like it." Kaze agrees.

"Then let's go!" Tenshi exclaims, pulling her launcher out and ripping her blade into the crowd, disappearing with it as she runs off in search of a good store. The team looks at each other and shrugs. They follow Tenshi's lead, launching their blades and scattering in different directions.

(A/N: ATTENTION READERS! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME…er…or at an airport for that reason.)

Pacing herself, Sakura jogs through the crowds of people, window shopping at the many tourist attractions, occasionally stopping to try on crazy looking hats. All the while, Kiba spun faithfully beside her…eventually getting impatient.

"Sakura, would you mind if we picked up the pace a little? It's kind of hard to keep up my torque when we're walking so slowly," the purple-striped white tiger spoke from the back of her mind. The oak-haired teen looked down at her small lilac blade, setting the large sombrero back on the peg she'd got it from.

"I forgot. You're a training enthusiast just like Tenshi, right Kiba?" she looks around, spotting an escalator leading to the lower floor of the airport. "Get ready. We're about to do something that security could be after us for a while." She smirks as she heads toward it, picking up her pace.

Kiba seems to catch her drift and when within distance, leans back and leaps into the air, landing perfectly on the moving railing of the escalator, jetting down, spinning faster as that thing called gravity kicks in. Sakura follows, only she doesn't go down the moving steps like a normal person would, but also leaps onto the railing, grinning in delight as she slid past the gawking people, her hair flying behind her. As she reaches the bottom, she sees Kiba spinning faithfully, awaiting her arrival. She lands swiftly on one foot and looks down at her blade with a large smile.

"Better?"

Her Bit Beast growls in approval, spinning soundly and contentedly in a small circle, suddenly abruptly stalling. "Uh oh. Sakura, security guard at 3-o-clock."

Her eyes widen as she looks up, noting the very angry guard approaching. His blue uniform contrasted with the shiny silver badge on his very professional-looking shirt. Quickly, Sakura calls Kiba back to her hand, sliding her blade into her pocket as she slips into a nearby costume store. She finds a cloak in the back of the shop, sliding into it just as the guard spies into the doorway of the store. Sakura pulls the hood over her head, covering her face as she pretends to be looking over the store's wide variety of costumes. The guard's eyes narrow as he scans the shop, then turns to continue searching for the "fugitive" throughout the airport.

"Well this was convenient. I didn't even know they had costume shops at airports." She thinks, hanging the cloak back on its hanger, and looking around before leaving the shop.

…

Hiniku runs from one store to another, trying on multiple objects of clothing.

"How does this one look, Inochi?" she asks, looking down at her patiently waiting blade.

"It looks like all the others, Hiniku. They all are fine, but please choose one soon. Our plane should be leaving shortly." The Bit Beast answers.

Hiniku pouts slightly. "You're no help, Inochi. I've tried on who-knows-how-many shirts, and all you can say is 'it looks fine' every single time. I wish you could help me choose one." She holds two T-shirts up and looks from one to the other, indecisively. Suddenly, a cry comes from the back of the store. Slinging the shirts over her shoulder, Hiniku races back to see what the commotion was about. A small boy stood by a mini Beystadium, crying as his blade and launcher lay by his feet.

"What's wrong?" she asks, kneeling down to the boy's height. He holds up his index finger, showing a small cut.

"I can't launch my blade right. And this time, I hurt my finger." he says in a small voice, a fresh set of tears rolling down his face.

"Aw, it doesn't look so bad. Here." Hiniku pulls a small bandage from her pocket and wraps it around his injured finger. "Is this your Beyblade?" she picks up the small green blade from the floor, finding it surprisingly heavy. He nods, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "Jeez, I can see why you can't launch your blade. This thing weighs almost more than you do!" she over-exaggerates, pulling a much lighter weight disk from her back pocket. She replaces it with his original and hands it back to the young child.

"Thank you," he says, suddenly shy.

"Try it out." Hiniku urges. Taking the launcher that looked too big for his hand, he tries once again to rip it in the Beystadium. His face lights up in delight as his blade lands in the center and spins softly. Hiniku stands, looking satisfied at his expression. Suddenly, a small hand tugs on her shirt from behind. She turns to see a young girl that looked exactly like an older version of the little boy.

"You didn't have to do that, miss." she says, referring to her brother.

"It's ok. I wanted to." Hiniku shrugs, looking downat her own spinning blade by her feet.

"Well, thank you. I heard you talking to your Beyblade a few moments ago. You don't know what shirt to buy, do you?" she asks, her curious eyes straying to the shirts slung over Hiniku's shoulder. The older girl shakes her head in response. "Let me buy you the white one. You'll look pretty in it." the girl snags it and heads to the register.

"Huh? You don't have to do that. I was going to buy it, anyway." Hiniku follows the girl, frowning with this change of events.

The girl turns to face Hiniku and looks down at her blade for a moment. "You're Hiniku Shinderu from the Winged Guardians aren't you?" the girl demands as she steps up in line. Hiniku's eyes widen in surprise as she nods. The girl turns back to Hiniku and hands her the bag with the shirt in it. "Please wear this when you go on TV again. You can remember us by it." the boy joins his sister, a smile on his small face.

"Thank you so much, you guys. You're probably the nicest people I've ever met." She gathers the siblings in a hug.

"Hiniku, we've go to go." Inochi says.

"I'll be sure to wear it next time, so be watching. I'll win my match for you guys." Hiniku calls as she heads toward the door of the shop. The siblings wave and head back to find their mom.

Not noticing the 'CAUTION! WET FLOOR' sign, Hiniku runs full force through a section of the floor recently mopped. But she catches her balance and slide to a complete stop, all her limbs fully in tact.

"HA! Beat that, evil puddle!" she smirks, pointing at the wet floor as she retrieves Inochi and returns it to her pocket.

…

Tenshi runs swiftly, surly, looking forward, concentrating so hard the her brow furrowed. "You're still with me, right Mangetsu?" She doesn't glance down, knowing her blade was with her even in the crowded airport.

"Right here, Tenshi. But it is a bit hard to maneuver through all these bags and feet down her. Could we slow down a little?" Mangetsu spoke calmly, though Tenshi could hear the tiredness in her Bit Beast's voice.

"Sorry, Mangetsu," she spoke to the phoenix, "but speed is what we need to work on between now and the tournament. I know you want to make the cut next year as much as I do." In the roar that sounded in Tenshi's mind, she could almost see Mangetsu's majestic head nod, her blade moving faster in determination. After a few minutes, Tenshi slowed her pace, stopping to lean her arm against a wall, trying to catch her breath. However, her turquoise blade spun eagerly, waiting to continue the run. Out of nowhere came a spray ofsomething.

"You like our new scent? It's Banana-Lilac." A salesperson grins, holding a perfume bottle in the palm of her hand. Tenshi coughs disgustedly as the cloud of perfume seems to settle around her head. "Only $59.99, so come right in and-"

"Gack! Are you trying to suffocate me to death? No thanks lady." Tenshi stumbles away, waving the air in hope of escaping the cloud. Without watching where she was going, she finds her way to another salesperson.

"Hey! Do you want to test our new automatic toaster? Just put your bread in this slot and-" the salesman stops talking as Tenshi waves off his request, sauntering off, still trying to get away from the nasty smell. Suddenly a paper cup is shoved into her hand.

"You look like you need an energy boost. This new energy drink is scientifically proven to replace electrolytes. Would you like to try-" a new salesman offers to pour Tenshi a small cup full of juice. She crushes the cup in her hand as he tries to pour some, looking up at the man with an annoyed glare.

"No, I don't want to test your stupid energy drink." She weighs the cup in her hand, tempted to chuck it at the guy's head. But she thinks better of it and tosses it in a nearby trashcan, stalking away, leaving the salesman in wide-eyed shock.

Mangetsu bristles. "That wasn't nice, Tenshi. You should go back and apologize."

"I'll tell you what's not nice: a lady spraying suffocating mist of who-knows-what in my face, a dude trying to get me to buy an automatic toaster, and almost being forced to drink scientific energy crap!" Tenshi pulls her chestnut hair to her nose and makes a face at the smell. "Great. Now I have to wash my hair when we get to Tyson's, thanks to that lady's expensive perfume." She scowls at nothing in particular, just following where the crowds were moving, not paying attention to where she was heading. Mangetsu seems to notice the sudden change in Tenshi's attitude. Just minutes ago, she had been all gun-ho about training, and now she was spouting about nothing at all.

"You're hungry." The phoenix finally concludes. A growling noise sounded from Tenshi's stomach as she sheepishly smiles, realizing that her Bit Beast knew her better than probably anyone.

"Yeah…" Tenshi looks around and spots a few small restaurants nearby and instantly makes a beeline towards them, hungrily.

…

Kaze strolled through the airport, quickly, eyes glazing over her surroundings, hoping not to see anyone that she didn't want to. Months ago, she had been in China, blading with such a great passion that it was almost impossible for people not to pay attention to her. Later, she'd led her team in the World Champions, no small feat, and her popularity seemed to grow. She'd accepted that at the moment, not realizing what it could be like in the future.

Now it seemed like everywhere she went that someone always recognized her, wanting her autograph or a picture. But she didn't like the spotlight all the time, feeling like someone was always watching. It seemed to her that she couldn't be herself anymore in public, subconscious of the public's constant watching eye.

That was why she was truly glad to have such good friends, ones that accepted her as who she was and nothing else. Hiniku, Sakura, Tenshi, and now Saitori. Yes, these were the people she could be herself around, not caring crazy she acted around them.

Don't get her wrong, Being famous had its ups and downs. For instance, people insisted that you move to the front of the line when waiting in a convenience store. That was nice and all, but those people didn't like her for who she was. All that really made her a person in the public's view were her Beyblading skills. Blading was a sport, one that anyone could participate in. Kaze was just blading at a higher level…no big deal. It was something that she loved to do, more than anything else in the world…well, maybe not her martial arts. She didn't see why people made such a big deal over higher level bladers. They only cared about who the person was on the TV screen, not who they were on the inside. Now the Winged Guardians had thousands of fans, some even crazy enough to follow them "backstage" after their matches.

"Good thing we don't have to lug around bodyguards." Kaze shudders at the thought of men dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and talking into hidden headpieces.

"Deep in thought again, are we, Kaze?" Kila spoke, bringing the teen back from her silent reverie. Kaze looks down at her blade with a sigh.

"Sorry, Kila. Have I been ignoring you again?"

"No, I haven't said anything until now. But I have noticed that you've been spacing out a lot lately. Is something wrong?" the intelligent Bit Beast asks her, concerned.

"Nah, nothing's wrong. It's just…I don't know. I've been reflecting on my past. It's hard to remember some things. I wonder if anything really important happened that my slightly absent memory can't recall." Kaze looks down with a frown, still walking forward. "It's so odd. This sudden want to know my past…it seems to be triggered by something."

Kila spins quietly by her side, as a moment of thoughtful silence passes between them. "It'll come with time. If there's something you truly need to remember, no matter how long it takes; it will suddenly pop back into our mind when you least expect it. Trust me."

Kaze smiles down at the gold beyblade, not losing one unit of torque as they stop walking. "Sometimes I wonder, Kila. How does so much wisdom come from something stuck in a blade for 90 of her life?" she teases.

"Hey, I'll remember that, Kaze." Kila growls as Kaze laughs.

"I-wait…do you smell that?" she pauses to sniff the air. "It's…ramen! Coming from downstairs!" Kaze's mouth begins to water as she looks over to see the wide space of air where people could look down at the lower level. She suddenly smiles out of the corner of her eye and looks down at Kila. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asks. The blade seems to nod in approval, gaining speed for the next move.

In a flash, both Kaze and Kila dash to the edge of the balcony. Kaze lifts off of one foot and neatly lands on the railing while Kila skims the back of a nearby bench. Suddenly, at the same time, they push off into midair, Kaze totally trusting her surroundings as she descends gracefully, doing one agile flip before landing softly on one foot, one knee on the ground. Her eyes scan the bustling crowds of people, noting that no one seemed to notice her peaceful "entrance" into the lower level of the airport. Her wrist flicks out, catching Kila before it hits the ground.

She smiles down at her blade. "We still have it, Kila." Those years and years of martial arts classes were good for something. "Now let's get some ramen." Kaze closes her eyes and follows the aroma to the small restaurant.

…

Saitori races through the mob of rushing people, nearly missing/tripping over suitcases, and well, the people themselves.

"Man this is harder than they make it look on TV." She thinks, almost colliding headfirst into a random lady. "I have to keep track of where I am, while not losing track of my Beyblade. Geez, Tenshi comes up with the weirdest, most fun ways to train. Aw, where's Flarien?" Saitori's eyes dart around for a second before having to look around for a second before having to look back ahead in fear of hitting something. "Flarien!" she calls, mentally trying to connect with her fiery Bit Beast.

Everything became a blur as she subconsciously continued ducking in and out of the crowds, concentrating only on her blade…wherever it was. All that Saitori heard was her pumping legs as she picked up speed, her quickening breath, and a low murmur of the people's conversation. Suddenly, she caught the sound a low whir, coming closer. She knew that noise from anywhere, the one she had been practicing with since only four years old.

"Flarien!" Jumping sideways between two crowds, Saitori's hand jets out as her red and black Beyblade ricochets off of a nearby pole and flies directly into her hand. "Heh heh, meant to do that…" Saitori scratches her back and looks down at her blade. "Looks like we have to work on staying together, huh Flarien? Though I could have sworn you were with me when the team and I separated. Where'd you go?"

The low familiar voice of her old friend fills her mind. "Look ahead, Tori-nee." Flarien spoke. The bit shined as she lifted her gaze from the blade to where Flarien was telling her.

In front of her was an entire wall of window, facing the ocean outside of the bustling airport. The sun was shining its midday gleam as the water tippled lightly in the breeze. Only one seagull flew ahead, looking for food, a rare sight at this time of the year. Cold weather was starting, thought the fluffy white clouds in the flawless sky didn't show any sign of snow. Saitori stepped up to the railing at about mid thigh that lined the entire window. Leaning forward, she looks down at the empty white sandy beach as the tide came in and out with peaceful 'whooshes'.

"Flarien, I don't know what to say. You led me here?"

"Yes. Do you like it?"

Saitori squint in remembrance, dark eyes glossing for a moment as she swallows. "It's just like when-"

"Excuse me, Flight 67B will be departing in 15 minutes." A voice speaks over the intercom.

Saitori's eyes widen, exiting the calm part of her mind, forgetting her memory at the same time. She looks up at the screen above the large window showing the soon-to-be departing planes and takes out 5 tickets from one of her many pockets. "That's us, Flarien. Where are we?"

"If you're wondering where your gate is, it's on the clear other end of the airport, downstairs. You're welcome." the fiery fox answered, leaving her frame of mind.

Once again, Saitori's eyes bulge as she stuffs the tickets back into their respective pockets and jets off toward the nearest elevator. "Gah! Flarien, I swear, sometimes you can be the best thing a girl could hope for, and all the rest of the time, you can be a real pain. Why can't you be one or the other?" she scolds, but realizes her Bit Beast wasn't going to answer.

She sighs as she enters the nearest elevator and pounds on the down button. Until the sliding doors close and the boxed room begins to move down at a snail's pace. Despite the soothing piano music playing in the background, Saitori paces in a circle, occasionally punching the button a few more times or hitting her forehead in frustration, earning her a few looks from the two other civilians in the elevator.

_Come on come on come __on__! Hiniku and the others will kill me if I get there late. Can this thing move __any__ faster?!_ Suddenly the elevator dings. As soon as the doors open a sliver, Saitori slips through sideways and sprints off in the direction of the departure gate, saying tons of 'excuse me's and 'sorry's along the way. In no time at all, she caught sight of her awaiting team. Hiniku taps her foot in impatience and Sakura looks down at her watch.

"4 minutes before the flight leaves." she says.

"Did you run the whole way here, Sai-chan? I didn't mean the training to be that hard." Tenshi frowns at her panting friend. Not able to answer, Saitori nods, pulling the tickets out of her pocket.

Kaze take them and hands them to the security lady as the 5 go through the security check. "Where were you, Saitori?" she asks, curiously. As the teen opens her mouth to answer, Hiniku exclaims,

"No time! We have to get good seats!" she pulls the tuckered girl through the hallway leading into the airplane. The three follow their lead and find 6 seats that face each other. Saitori, Hiniku, and Kaze take one side as the two sisters take the other side. As the group buckles their seatbelts, the plane begins to move.

"Talk about cutting it close!" Kaze says as the plan picks up speed down the runway. All of them visibly let out a big sigh of relief.

"So how did your modified version of training go?" Tenshi asks, looking around at the team.

"Hm. Can't complain." Hiniku says, looking down at the shopping bag holding her new shirt.

"Mine was great! I got a new hat!" Sakura smiles proudly, holding up the sombrero that she'd decided to buy after all.

"And I had the best lunch I've had in years. Kaze replies, a satisfied look on her face. The team turns their attention to Saitori, noticing her silence. The curly-haired girl was looking down; a distracted, withdrawn haze covered her eyes as she turned Flarien over in her hand, tracing her blade's edges thoughtfully.

"You ok, Saitori?" Sakura asks, looking at her friend worriedly.

Saitori's head snaps up as does her attention. "I'm fine. I'm just thinking. Flarien led me to this view of a beach outside of the airport. It kind of stirred up old memories. "she spoke, looking back down at the shiny blade in her hand. The group exchanges glances.

"Good or bad ones?" Kaze asked.

Saitori's face twisted in a kind of forced smile. "It's nothing. I was probably just remembering an old movie or something. Don't worry, I'm perfectly sane!" she grins, slipping Flarien back in its pocket.

"So we think…" Hiniku jokes.

"And on that note, you'll never guess what happened to me, today!" Sakura exclaims. "Some security guard was chasing me and I had to hide out in a costume store!" The group gasps as if on cue.

"What'd you do this time, Saku?" Hiniku sighs and folds her arms.

"Nothing…illegal…" Sakura makes a face.

"Yeah, well smell my hair!" Tenshi says to her sister, holding out a part of her chestnut hair.

After taking a whiff, Sakura grimaces. "What the heck did you do, Tensh?"

"I was attacked by a saleswoman with deadly perfume." she answers darkly, causing Hiniku to laugh.

Kaze silently looks over at Saitori. The teen looked relieved at her friends' ability to switch subjects. Her dark eyes lose the smile as the withdrawn haze replaces it. Her head turns to the window as she looks down at the passing ground below.

…

"Excuse me, passengers. We will be landing within five minutes, so please buckle all seatbelts and prepare for our descent. Thank you for riding our airlines." A voice came from the loudspeaker.

Hiniku, after making sure she was securely buckled into the seat, leaned over Saitori to look out the window. "Wow! We're so high up! I think I see our house from here!" The group sweatdrops.

"We're way too far away to see our house, Hiniku. We're in Tokyo." Kaze shakes her head.

"I know. I just felt like saying it."

The exiting of the plane and gathering of luggage went without incident, surprisingly. But as soon as the team hit the cold air outside the airport, they suddenly realize something.

"Wait a minute. Kaze, did that letter say anything about us being picked up?" Tenshi asks, frowning as she looked up and down the busy street of pedestrians, bikes, and cars.

"Now that you mention it, no. I don't think Max said that anyone was coming to pick us up. The way he made it seem was that Kai and Rei were arriving today, also." Kaze answered.

"So basically, we have to find our own transportation in this foreign place that we have no idea where we are." Sakura concludes. Hiniku and Saitori huddle together, trying to gather body heat.

"Why is it so cold out here? It's what, like November?" Saitori's teeth chatter as she speaks.

"I wish I knew where I put my jacket. I kind of just threw everything in my bag this morning, so it's probably buried." Hiniku say, her breath coming out in little clouds. Tenshi and Kaze look at each other hopelessly, also beginning to notice the frigid temperatures of the approaching winter.

Sakura looks at her team, realizing that it was time to take charge of the situation. She walks up to a random police officer and overcomes the language barrier by using made up sign language. Surprisingly, the officer understands. At her motion of a steering wheel, he nods and points down the street to the left. "Arigatou." Sakura thanks the man with a smile as she turns back to her team. "All right. There's a car rental place down the street. If we hurry, we can still get to Tyson's before sunset." She picks up her bags from the sidewalk.

"She's right. I f we just stand here, we'll only get colder. Let's go rent a car and get somewhere warm." Tenshi follows her sister's lead. After a while of almost prying their feet from the ground, the team joins the crowds of swiftly walking people. Upon arriving at the rental agency, Sakura, the oldest of the group, just had to show her ID and sign a few papers before that brown car in the parking lot washers for the week.

"I claim front seat!" Hiniku exclaims, whipping open the passenger door in her haste to get warm.

"You do know that if you're in the front seat, that you're our navigator." Kaze says nervously.

"Oh don't worry. I've been practicing. I know how to read a map, now." Hiniku says enthusiastically.

"We're trusting you, Hiniku." Tenshi says seriously, a twinkle in her eye as she puts the sacred map into her friend's hands, the rest of the team piling into the car.

**End Flashback**

Tenshi shakes her head. _Some navigational skills…_ "Hiniku, give me the map. Maybe I can get us out of here." The blue-banged snatches the map from her flustered friend. Sakura looks at Tenshi through the rearview mirror, thankfulness filling her eyes. "Man where are we?" she looks at the paper for a while before finding their location. "OK, Sakura. Make a right when we get to the next road."

After a few minutes of telling her sister directions, Tenshi leads them to a well-kept neighborhood. The houses were not too far apart, yet not too close together. Many of healthy trees lined he road, their leaves spotted in red, orange, and yellow.

"Kaze, what house number is it?" she asks.

The team captain opens her eyes as if she'd been awake the entire time. "Um, I don't remember…it may have been 4220." She speaks, trying to remember the return address on the front of the letter's envelope. Sakura pulls in front of the corresponding house.

Hiniku turns around in her seat. "Saitori, look! We're here!"

Saitori's head lifts and she takes in the house before her. It was a one-floored traditional house with a slanted roof, green shutters, and light brown siding. "Isn't it a little small? Are we all going to fit in there?" The team nods, agreeing with her comment.

"Maybe it's bigger than it looks. If Tyson invited all of us plus the others, they've got to have enough space." Sakura replies, getting out into the cold. The team follows and walks up the driveway toward the front door. As Tenshi reaches to ring the doorbell, small footsteps from inside race toward the door as it swings open.

"AAAAAAHH! He's coming!"

"Help, help, help!"

Two small children race outside and huddle behind the bewildered team, giggling in excitement.

HAHAHA! Watch out!" a man with a laughter-filled face appears in the doorway. "Oh, hello, can I help you?" he asks the team, composing his laughter a little more, though his eyes still dance as he reaches for one of his children and tickles her. The girl squeals in happiness. The other one, probably her twin brother, latches his hand onto Sakura's purple tiger-striped shirt and hides behind halfway behind her as he looks up at his dad with a grin.

Kaze clears her throat, getting over her surprise. "Um, yes. We're the Winged Guardians. We're looking for the Granger's residence. Is this it?" she frowns in confusion.

"No." a friendly looking lady appears behind her husband. "Their house is over there." She points across the street as the grinning man pulls the boy from behind Sakura and picks the giggling twins up and rests them on either hip. Tenshi smiles down at the dark-haired two-year-olds and waves when they both lift one small hand at her at the same time.

"What's your name?" Hiniku asks the little girl, taking hold of her outstretched hand.

"Kidate." She says, eyes twinkling.

"I'm Kaname." The boy speaks, giving the team a toothy grin, exactly matching his dad's. Tenshi and Sakura laugh at his expression.

"Who're you?" Kidate looks around Hiniku to see Saitori.

The teen's eyes widen slightly before she gives the young girl a kind smile. "I'm Saitori."

Kidate's face frowns as she tries to pronounce the curly-haired girl's name. "Tori-nee." She finally decides.

A look passes over Saitori's face before she smiles. "Sure, you can call me that." The husband and wife look at each other, eyebrows risen.

"That's the fastest I've ever seen Kidate warm up to anyone. You must be someone special to do that." The lady says.

Saitori smiles modestly. "I do like children." She says. Suddenly, the twins shiver at the same time. The dad looks down at his children.

"Time to get you two inside. We can't have you catching a cold." He looks up at the team. "it was nice meeting you guys. Stop by if Tyson drives you too crazy. We can hear his snoring all the way from over here sometimes." The man winks, jokingly.

"Thanks. We will." Kaze says goodbye as the family of four disappears behind the closed door.

"They seemed nice." Sakura says as the team turns to go across the street. Kaze turns to see Saitori staring at the closed door, the withdrawn gaze returning before she looks down and swallows. She turns to face Kaze with her normal animated smile.

"Let's go, Kaze-kun." She walks forward to meet her team captain, and follows the other three. Sakura get in the car and tuns around, parking in front of the large dojo on the opposite side of the street. The 5 open the trunk and get out their respective bags. They then walk through the tall white fence surrounding the dojo, walking down the rock pathway leading up to the sliding front door.

Before even reaching the stairs leading up to the porch, the door slides open. A medium-height man stands there, white hair pulled into a ponytail as he wears a traditional Kendo outfit.

"Yo, dudettes! I thought I heard a car pull up! You're those chicks Tyson and Max invited over, huh?" Not waiting for an answer, the older man turns and yells. "Hey, Tyson! Your pepes are here! Get out here!"

Tyson's voice answers before his head appears around the doorway, revealing hi navy, spiky hair and backward baseball hat. "Aw, Grandpa! Don't scare them away! Could you try talking like a normal person once in a while?" He shakes his head as he joins his grandfather on the porch.

"I am talking normally, dog!" Grandpa looks back at the clueless girls. "Looks like we'll have a full house. Guess I'd better start fixing dinner. Dudettes, feel free to roam the house and eat whatever you want. Mi casa es su casa." He grins as he disappears into the dojo.

Tyson turns to face the team with an embarrassed grin. "Sorry. My grandpa thinks he's the 'hippest' guy in the world." Not able to contain it anymore, the girls start busting out laughing. Tyson rolls his eyes and calls into his house, "Hey, guys! They're here!" In a few seconds, Max leapt from the doorway and glomps Kaze.

"You came! I knew you would!" he exclaims.

"Hey Max. How's it going?" she asks as he pulls away to look at the team.

"Great! I'm just so happy you all came! Kai and Rei just arrived this morning, so now we can have everyone together for the best Thanksgiving!" He grins his kitty-grin and his blonde hair waves as a gust of wind flies by. Hiniku laughs at his expression.

"Come on, Kai. At least say hi." Another voice speaks from the inside of the dojo, getting an annoyed grunt in response. Suddenly, a tall, spiky-haired boy in a dark vest and long white scarf emerges from the house, walking to the opposite end of the porch than Tyson, leaning against one of the beams connected to the roof. He looks down at the team with a steady, emotionless gaze. Tenshi looks away from her team and silently glances up to the porch. For an instant, crimson meets chocolate before both heads turn away.

Saitori glances at Tenshi for a moment, noticing her reddened cheeks. She wondered if it was from the cold or from something else. Saitori looks up as Sakura squeals and races over to the porch. The oak-haired girl literally pounced on a dark, spiky-haired boy coming out of the dojo, latching her arms around his waist.

"Sakura." He spoke, laughter in his voice. "You don't have to tackle me every time we see each other." He smiles and looks down at the team, plus Max, and steps down as Sakura lets him go. "Tenshi, Kaze, Hiniku, it's great to see you guys again." He turns to face Saitori. "And you must be the team's new member. Who might you be?" he asks politely, his golden eyes resting on the curly-haired teen.

For a second, she looks up at Rei, eyes widened, words not coming to her. "Um…Hi! I'm Saitori Nishio, reporting for duty!" she says enthusiastically, finding her voice as she salutes and sticks her hand out with a genuine grin. The boy raises one eyebrow and laughs softly, meeting her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Saitori-chan. I'm Rei."

Max bounds over to Saitori, his kitty-grin still in place. "Max Tate at your service!" he says jokingly, bowing slightly. Saitori laughs, but feels someone's gaze upon her. Looking up at the porch, she meets the crimson gaze of the boy who'd not yet spoken. She smiles, nervously, and lifts a hand to say hi, but his gaze continues to bore down on her for a moment. He pushes off of the beam he was leaning on and swiftly turns to walk around to the back of the house, his white scarf flicking the air behind him in the frigid wind.

"Party pooper." Tyson mutters under his breath as the boy leaves.

"Whatever…" the spiky-haired guy says over his shoulder as he disappears behind the house.

Tyson shakes his head and says to Saitori, "Don't mind him. Kai's not exactly the friendliest guy in the world. Anyway, I'm Tyson, in case you haven't already heard," then to the rest of the team, "Feel free to make yourselves at home, just don't eat all of my food. I'm a growing boy that need my nutrients." He frowns down at the team with mock anger.

"Hey, Tyson, where's Shorty?" Hiniku asks, talking about Daichi, a short, outgoing redhead.

"Daichi's mom called and wanted him to come home for Thanksgiving. Thank goodness." He answered the last part under his breath.

"Well Tyson, are you going to be a gentleman for once and invite us in before we freeze to death?" Tenshi urges, a shiver going down her back as she stares dully at the boy that had yet to show any hint of manhood, in her book.

Tyson frowns. "Sure. Welcome welcome. Enjoy your stay." He says, sarcastically.

"WooHoo! I want to choose where my futon goes first!" Hiniku exclaims as she juggles her bags in both arms, whizzing past a clueless Tyson and Sakura, whose face was trained on something.

"I call the shower first!" Tenshi follows her friend into the house, searching for her shampoo as she ran.

Max picks up some of the suitcases that were left on the front lawn. Tyson suddenly sniffs the air, eyes bulging as he bounds into the house shouting, "Grandpa! Is that sushi I smell?" Rei shoots the remaining girls a welcoming smile as he strolls inside.

""Come in before you freeze." He says, disappearing through the doorway.

It was then that Saitori noticed Sakura's glare. The curly-haired teen quirks an eyebrow as she gathers her bags and walks up the stairs onto the porch.

"Saitori, don't try anything." Sakura speaks, a harsh tone in her voice.

"What are you talking about, Saku?" Saitori asks, genuinely confused.

Sakura stares at her friend, sizing up her reaction. "I'm talking about Rei-kun. I noticed that look in your eye when he spoke to you. He's mine, so don't try to take him." She slings her bag over one arm and drags her suitcase into the house, shoulders rigid. Saitori stares after her, speechless. Kaze come up behind the curly haired teen.

"Saitori?" she meets her friend's gaze. "Don't take it to heart. She's just a little protective when it comes to Rei. I would know." Kaze gives her an encouraging smile.

Saitori's eyes squint in thought. "Tell me something, Kaze-kun. Are they uh…how you say…togetha?"

Kaze chuckles at her accent. "Well no, not exactly."

"HA, then I still have a chance!" she grins. Kaze shakes her head and laughs to herself. "And what's the deal between Tensh and Kai?"

"Um, they're not how you say…togetha…yet." Kaze smiles, sneakily. Saitori smiles the same way as she catches her team captain's drift. Kaze looks up at the darkening sky and a smile hints at her lips. "Storm's coming."

Saitori frowns and looks up at the sky, seeing almost no clouds at all. "How do you see that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Just a feeling I get when a big rain storm is approaching. It's kind of like a sixth sense. My parents could do it, too." Kaze shrugs.

"Hm. I was thinking you had one of those wacked out elbows or knees that twitch when it's about to rain. Old people usually have them." Saitori thinks aloud.

Kaze shifts her bags and heads inside. "Are you trying to tell me something, Saitori?"

Saitori follows her. "Of course not. I'm older than you, anyway...Are you sure you don't have a twitchy elbow?" she asks, jokingly, as they disappear into the dojo.

"Ew! No!"

* * *

**Well, that's it for Chappie two. Sorry for any typos, I was rushing. I wanted to add a bunch more, but once again, time seems to be working against me...and a friend's been nipping at my heels to update. Anyway, please review, and look for the concluding chapter in a couple weeks!**


	3. A Flower

**Hello, and thank you for choosing to read my concluding chapter of ****A Thanksgiving to Remember****. I'm sorry it's a day late, but I know you all are still in the Thanksgiving spirit, right? Please read, review, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, or any of the characters from the series. However I do own Saitori, and her brainless actions in this chappie. **_**Twin Psychos**_** owns Tenshi and Kaze. **_**Invisible Love**_** owns Hiniku and Sakura.

* * *

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**A Flower**

_"Stay here." he said. I knew who he was, but no longer could remember his face. He set me down on the front lawn, bent down and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, his lips still gentle, though I could feel the tension in his body, see the pain and fright in his brown eyes. He turned and disappeared into the hot haze of smoke gripping the air._

_I coughed and realized that I couldn't breathe. I still clutched my favorite blue-checkered blanket from my bed, so I held it to my face, hoping to breathe in something cleaner than the smoggy air around me. "Where is it all coming from?" I asked myself as I squinted in the smoke that stung my eyes._

_Suddenly, I heard the sirens, and saw the flashy lights coming closer. I looked up as a man in heavy brown and yellow clothes and hat took me by the shoulders and guided me farther away from the thick smog._

_"Are you OK?" he asked, bending down on one knee. Behind him, other men in his same outfit were unloading a long rope from the bright red truck. They attached it to the yellow fire hydrant on the grass next to the road._

_I looked at the man, confused. Why was he talking through a mask? I thought as a fit of coughs erupted from my lungs. The masked man turned to a woman in a clean uniform. They said something about "daughter" and "smoke inhalation", but I didn't understand what they were talking about. The lady knelt beside me, gently pulling the blanket down from my face and put a plastic mask over my nose and mouth. "Why? This isn't Halloween." I thought, but didn't struggle against the plastic thing. For some reason, it was easier to breathe in it._

_I looked around the woman to see the long rope being pulled toward the haze of smoke, shooting a powerful sprinkler from the nozzle. I liked to play in our sprinkler during the summer. Daddy had run back there where they were spraying it. He was playing in the water, and leaving me out of the fun. I laughed and yanked the mask off, breaking free of the woman's grasp to run forward to where Daddy disappeared in the smoke. The woman raced after me, shouting something. "Daddy? Daddy, where are you?" I called, coughing in the thick haze as I raced ahead._

_Suddenly, I saw it._

_My house was glowing in yellow as bright stuff shot out of the windows, and roof. Everyone's windows. Mine, where I'd just been sleeping. Daddy, Mommy, and B-kun's windows._

_I remembered seeing this on a movie in pre-school. "Call 9-1-1 if there's a…fire." it said. Suddenly, my head snapped up and my eyes widened, despite the stinging smoke._

_Fire. That's what the yellow and red was shooting from my childhood home. Fire was dangerous. "Never play with fire." Mommy was always saying. Where was Daddy? My heart beat faster, and my breathing quickened._

_"Daddy?" I called again, my voice ragged, and throat raw in the smog. The woman finally caught me and pulled me away from the house, putting the mask on my face again. I craned my neck around the lady to see what was happening. The men in heavy suits aimed the long rope at the house, spraying water at the fire, with no success. The bright flames grew despite their efforts._

_That's when I understood._

_Mommy and B-kun were still in the house when Daddy took me outside. He ran back in to find them. They were in the fire._

_I began to fight against the woman's grasp. "Let me go! I have to save them! Daddy! Mommy! B-kun!" I cried, trying helplessly to run toward the house again. The lady wouldn't let go of me._

_Suddenly, the men in suits backed away from the house as a rumbling sound escaped from it. First the roof gave out, crumbling under the engulfing flames. Then the shingles and chimney collapsed into the top floor, then into the bottom one._

_"NOOOOO!" I tugged at the mask and fought my way forward as my entire house fell to the ground, white and yellow fire surrounding it, licking the air, swallowing up everything I owned, and taking away everyone I loved._

Saitori's eyes flash open as a bolt of lightning glints outside the bedroom window and a loud crack of thunder sounds. She sits up, and notices her silent panting. A thin sheen of cold sweat covers her face, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. A swift pitter-patter of rain falls to the ground outside, hitting the dojo's roof, making the noise that would normally lull her to sleep. Saitori looked down at her hands, one clutching a remnant of the familiar blue-checkered blanket. Her eyes widen and she immediately drops it.

She'd had that dream again. This was the first time she'd had it since living in that old, frigid apartment, and she'd remembered everything about that night so vividly. Her dad's last words to her, the suffocating smoke, the fire…consuming everything she knew. Saitori clenched her jaw as her mind replayed the crumbling image of her house. She'd refused to even look at the scene of her old house after that night. The night that her parents and brother were-.

She bit her lip as another clap of thunder struck. She stood and carefully navigated her way around her sleeping friends' futons. She silently opened the door and padded barefoot into the hallway. Almost sleepwalking, she looked at the clock in the Granger's kitchen the opened the front door and stepped out into the stormy night.

…

Kaze sat in the large easy chair, listening to the rain at it calmly but swiftly hit the roof. She was never able to sleep on stormy nights. Not that she was scared or anything, but she just loved them so much. The steady precipitation calmed her spirits, no matter how stressful the day was. So as her friends slept in the futons in a row in front of her, she peacefully sat. She didn't realize how long she'd been sitting when she heard a stir.

Scanning her eyes over the sleeping team, she noticed the sudden changes on Saitori's face. Her features twisted in a grimace as she turned on her side, probably having a bad dream. But her breath became jagged and quicker, mouthing something as she stirred once again. Suddenly her eyes shot open, flashing in the sudden lightning outside. She sat up, and as usual after waking up, looked in a daze. Her curly hair was matted to one side of her head, spiky on the other. But Kaze didn't pay attention to this. She saw the sheer pain and fright in Saitori's eyes, exposed completely, not covered by her usual wide smile. Her friend's hands were clenched into fists, bottom lip bitten, holding something back. This wasn't just one of those dreams that you woke in a cold sweat, only to forget about it, then fall back to sleep two seconds later. No, this was something, more.

Kaze was about to say something, but Saitori stood, stepping past Sakura and Tenshi, and silently slipping out of the bedroom. Kaze looked at her friend's empty futon, frowning. For a second, she'd seen Saitori's inside, the part she didn't allow anyone to see. What could be that painful? She could only imagine. Suddenly, she heard the front door sliding open, someone stepping outside. She froze. Where could Saitori be going?

She leaped out of the chair, stepping around Hiniku's legs, them past the sisters, and raced into the hallway, them looked out the front window into the gray night. Saitori sat on a lawn chair in the yard, knees pulled up, her face buried in the yard, knees pulled up, her face buried in them, hiding any expression on her face. She seemed oblivious to the icy, pouring rain beating down upon her. Kaze sat on the windowsill, debating over whether or not to go out and comfort her friend. What could she say that could ease Saitori's pain? Calm her fright? She was never good at helping those people that were hurting. Words never seemed to be good enough.

But Kaze couldn't solve why there was such a sudden change in Saitori. She'd been just fine that evening when they'd eaten the hearty dinner put out by Grandpa. They'd had a few laughs at Hiniku and Tyson's argument over the remote when the group had finally settled in the living room. After deciding the whole movie thing wasn't a good idea, Rei pulled out a pack of cards and suggested playing Go-Fish. So at Sakura and Saitori's immediate approval, and silent exchange of glares, the group sat around the coffee table and attempted playing the game. Tenshi eventually saw Tyson peeking at her hand of card, and threw them in the air, declaring the game over.

By then, the rain had began falling, and they all stared at the glowing fire in the Granger's fireplace. Kai was still nowhere to be found. Eventually, they began discussing what they were going to do the next day in preparation for Thanksgiving the day after. It turned out that a lot more had to be done than just cooking the turkey. So assignments were made as to what would be accomplished. By the time the teams had separated into their different rooms for the night, Kai returned, surprisingly dry. After taking a shower, Saitori was the first one asleep, tuning out the chaos around her about who's futon would go where, pillows flying in protest. Eventually, the entire house quieted, and nothing was heard but the steady rain on the rooftop, and Tyson's low snore.

But now, Saitori was outside, the rain her only companion as she hugged her knees for comfort…and Kaze didn't know what to do.

Suddenly, the neko-jin remembered something. For an instant, she was back in her childhood home, being woken by the sound of sirens. She had stood and looked out of her bedroom window into the dark night, only this night was covered in a thick cloud of smoke. Whatever happened after that, Kaze couldn't recall. Finally, her sleep depravation caught up to her as her eyelids closed, and head dropped to her chest, losing all consciousness though the rain continued to fall.

…

Kaze woke the next morning, staring at her team bedroom's white ceiling. She sat up, squinting in the morning light pouring through the window. _How did I get here?_ She was sure she'd fallen asleep on the windowsill in the living room last night.

"Kaze?" Saitori's head peeked in from the door. "AH! You're up! Good morning!" she grinned, happily.

Kaze frowned in confusion. Saitori was never this happy in the morning. Had her friend gotten any sleep after she'd come in from outside, last night? "Good morning." Kaze yawned as Saitori came partially into the room.

"Everyone else is awake. Did you sleep well? I came in from a walk last night and you were zonked out in the living room. You practically zombied your way back to your futon when I woke you up. Are you ok?" she asked.

Kaze looked around at her friends' empty futons. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you, are you-" she paused and looked at Saitori's expecting face. It seemed so much different than the pain it'd displayed the night before. "Nah, nevermind." Kaze shook her head.

"Kaze! Saitori!" Hiniku's panicked voice came form the hallway as she entered the room also. The two's eye's widened at the distraught look in their friend's face. "Lunch is ready." Hiniku grinned, and the two sweatdrop, before Kaze freezes.

"Hold on a minute! Lunch?! What time is it?!"

"Noon." Hiniku and Saitori say at the same time.

"AAAAAHHH!"

As the two teams sat around the table and devoured the lunch Rei had prepared, Tenshi heard something from outside. "Is that a-"

"-chainsaw?" Sakura finished her sister's sentence. At the mention of the word, both teams piled out the front door and across the street where a large oak tree laid across the family-from-yesterday's front yard.

"Whoa! What happened here?" Tyson asked his neighbor in astonishment.

The man broke away from his work and approached the group of Beybladers. "The storm last night is what happened. We're just so lucky that the tree didn't choose to be blown into our house." He answered in a tired voice.

"We could help you out. We've got muscle to spare." Max says, him and Tyson flexing their biceps.

Kai shakes his head. "Sure you do." He flicks both boys in the arm, and they flinch away.

"What I think they're trying to say is: is there anything we can do to help you out, Mr. Nintai.?" Rei asks.

The man looks around at his yard. "I don't think so. We've pretty much got the situation under control now."

"Tori-nee!" a small voice calls. Saitori's ears perk up as the twins run toward her.

"Hey guys!" she grins as the excited two all but tackle her in hugs.

"Kaname, Kidate! Don't get near the chainsaw!" their mom calls after them as she joins her husband, dark circles under both adults' eyes.

"Are you all right, Mrs. Nintai? You look exhausted." Kaze says worriedly.

"I'm fine. We've just got a lot of things to do before tomorrow. I've got to call the waste management guy to pick up the bags of branches and leaves we've already collected. It's going to take a while before this whole tree is out of our yard. And I still have to go shopping for tomorrow." The lady lets out a heavy sigh as her husband pats her shoulder.

Hiniku picks Kaname up. "Saitori and I could watch your children for you."

"Oh, that'd be a big help." Mr. Nintai looks at the two hopefully as they both nod.

"Then what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Sakura asks in behalf of the rest of the group.

"Don't you have things to prepare for tomorrow, too?" Kai asks Tenshi. The blue-banged teen's eyes widen.

"Oh YEAH! I forgot all about that! Back to the house, guys! We've got a Thanksgiving to get ready for." Tenshi marches back across the street, the rest of them in tow.

"Thank you, Hiniku, Saitori. They can be a bit of handful, but they're great playmates." Mrs. Nintai calls to the girls.

"Don't worry." Saitori smiles over her shoulder as the twins wave goodbye to their parents.

Once inside, the teams line up as Tenshi paces back and forth in front of them with a clipboard and sideways army hat on her head. "All right, Sakura and Rei."

"Here." The two raise their hands.

"You two are going to be heading off to the store for stuffing, potatoes, and whatever else is on that shopping list I gave you this morning." Tenshi turns to Kaze and Max. "You guys are setting up decorations and getting the house ready. Feel free to make it as fun as possible." The two nod and grin at each other. The blue-banged teen looks at Hiniku. "Hm. I originally had you down for going to the store with Tyson to help Sakura and Rei with shopping. But you can look after the twins with Saitori, if you want."

Hiniku looks over at Saitori, guiltily. "Um, would you mind if I go shopping? I do want to help you, but I'd rather go to the store. I'll stay here and if you want."

"No. Hiniku, go have fun. I'll stay here with the twins." Saitori encourages as the children giggle making faces at each other.

"Ok." Hiniku finally gives in with a smile.

Tenshi leans in to whisper to her slightly shorter friend. "Maybe you can teach Tyson a few manners."

"HA. Like that would ever happen." Hiniku rolls her eyes as Tyson polishes off the lunch table. Tenshi clears her throat and continues. "Let's see…Kai. Since you weren't here last night when we were deciding, you get to choose what you want to do now. I'm going to be working in the kitchen, making pies for tomorrow. We also have a free slot in the raking leaves department. So, which one?"

Kai shrugs, finding it hard to say no to either under her gaze. "Whichever you choose, Tenshi."

"Fine. Raking leaves for you, then." She checks off something on her clipboard. "I guess that's it then. Let's make this an unforgettable Thanksgiving."

"Yeah!" Max exclaims as the group huddles in, each placing one hand in the middle of the circle.

"Break!" they all say as they scatter to their respective duties."

…

Rei and Sakura walked through the aisles of the supermarket, looking for the food Tenshi had specified they get. Sakura held her hands over her ears.

"That song Tyson was singing on the way here is still stuck in my head!" she complains as Rei pushes the cart by her side.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" he asks.

**Flashback**

_The four piled into the rented car, Rei in the driver's seat, Sakura in the passenger side, and Hiniku and Tyson in the back._

_"Come on, come on, come on! Turn on the radio, puleeaase!" he pestered toe front seat people, hands folded in his begging._

_"Ok, ok! Man, just be quiet!" Sakura says, annoyed as she clicks the radio on. Immediately, a song came on the Tyson knew. He began singing at the top of his lungs in an off-key voice. Rei looks at him through the rearview mirror, a pained look in his eye._

_"Shuddup!" Hiniku shouts over his loud voice and hits him over the head._

**End Flashback**

Rei shakes his head with a chuckle. "I guess it was pretty bad." He sets a can of cranberry sauce in the cart. Sakura pulls out the shopping list, now ripped in half; one side was given to Hiniku and Tyson when they reached the store.

"Geez. Tensh wants us to buy all of this?! We're feeding two teams, not the whole army!" Sakura over exaggerates, walking up to a shelf, trying to decide which bag of potatoes to get. "Rei-kun, what do you think?"

He looks over at the shelf. "Red ones are better for potato salad. White ones are what we need for mashed potatoes. Don't you think, Sakura?" he turns to face her. She picks up two bags of white potatoes and places them in the cart.

"White it is then." She continues down the long aisle of shelves of food.

"Sakura, what's going on between you and Saitori?" Rei asks, curiously.

"What do you mean?" Sakura questions.

"Well, this morning, you two would barely look at each other let alone talk to each other. Is something wrong?" he asks, sincerely as Sakura turns to face him.

"No, just a regular girl-quarrel. Don't worry about it." she shrugs.

"I hope it's not too bad. Stick to your friends. They may be the most important things to you someday." He says, looking down at the shopping list again before walking ahead to the next aisle.

"I'll keep that in mind." Sakura follows him.

…

"Shut up, Tyson! I'm beginning to regret coming shopping with you." Hiniku scowls at the navy-haired teen who was still humming the annoying song.

"Sorry, but shopping is really boring. Staring at all this food and not being able to eat it. It's torturing, I tell you, torturing." He hangs his head in despair as he catches sight of a long submarine sandwich, just waiting to be eaten.

"Well, pay attention. We've got a list to follow. First, we need to find a smoked ham…" Hiniku starts, but raises an eyebrow as Tyson moans.

"Aw, now I'm even more hungry." He looks around and spots a tray of something on the bakery's counter. "Samples!" he yells, and races over to the tray of free food. He stuffs his mouth and grins at Hiniku as she walks over to him, her hands on her hips.

"Quit it, Tyson. You're embarrassing us." she hisses, noticing the crowd of onlookers staring at the two.

"Sorry," he says through his mouthful, sputtering crumbs as he talks. Hiniku glares at him disgustedly and stomps off in search of the ham. Tyson follows her petite form through the store as she picks various items off of the shelf and places them in the basket hanging off of her forearm, her brisk walking showing that she was annoyed. As she pauses to lean over the selection of hot chocolate and apple cider, he leans around to see her face. "Look, I said I was sorry. You aren't mad at me are you?" he asks, apology in his dark blue eyes.

"No, I'm not mad. But I can see why Tenshi gets upset at you so much. Can you at least try to be a gentleman for a minute, and not talk with your mouth full?" Hiniku frowns up at him.

"I can be a gentleman. Just watch. Follow me." Tyson grabs the basket from Hiniku and walks back to the bakery. Hiniku followed, confused with this change of events. Could Tyson really be serious? "Here, choose something." He motions to the display of baked goods. Hiniku looks up at him, surprised and distrustful. "Really, choose anything, and I'll buy it." Hiniku's stomach rumbles as she realizes she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch.

"Well, I guess a donut would be nice…" she says, still suspicious.

Tyson steps up to the counter and purchases a glazed donut. Just before Hiniku takes it, he breaks it in half and hands her one of the pieces, proudly. "Gentlemanly enough for you?" his half already gone.

"You're hopeless, Tyson." Hiniku shakes her head in defeat, but takes her half of the donut.

…

"Kaze, come on! I'm sure Tyson showed me the boxes of decorations somewhere around here." Max smiles at Kaze and leads the way down to the Granger's basement. They reach the bottom of the staircase and look around at the dusty boxes with various labels scrawled on their sides in ballpoint pen-as if that could help them find where the box of decorations was.

"Man, whoever wrote these labels has some bad handwriting." Kaze comments as she walks forward and sees an endless sea of boxes.

"Thank Tyson for that." Max reaches up and pulls a string attached to a small light bulb. Luckily, the old bulb clicked to life with a dull glow. Kaze rubs her hands together.

"Well, let's get started. You take that far, really dark, cobweb-covered corner over there." Kaze points to the far end of the basement with a joking smile.

"Hm, thanks Kaze." Max replies sarcastically. "I bet I'll find it before you!" he says as he races back to his assigned area.

"Ha! Yeah right. You know I'm faster than you." Kaze retorts, opening a box lid. But after searching through a century's worth of boxes, and only finding Tyson's baby pictures, old Halloween costumes, and a how-to-become-a-better-you book, the two turn to the last box, panting, and extremely tired. "This had better be it." Kaze sighs. They both lift the lid off of the remaining box, and guess what? It was the very box of decorations that they needed. Both let out a big sigh as Max reaches into the box and pulls out a pilgrim hat and fake beard. After putting it on, he turns to Kaze with a wide grin.

"How do I look?" he asks, enthusiastically. Kaze grins back and tugs at the beard.

"Like you can't wait to get it off. That thing's got to be itchy."

"It is." Max admits. "But the hat is pretty cool."

They both drag the humongously huge box up the stairs and into the living room, then stand in front of it, looking at the job before them. Outside, it was turning dark, and everyone would soon be home. They only had about an hour before all the decorations had to be up. They started with the large basket, and placed it on the fireplace's mantle. They then proceeded to fill it with fake vegetables. Kaze found some Christmas lights, and thinking nothing of them, placed the long role around her arm and continued to decorate the room. Eventually, Max looked at his friend, amused.

"Kaze? We're supposed to be decorating the living room, not mummifying ourselves with Christmas lights." He laughs. Kaze had somehow managed to wrap the entire cord of lights around herself so that she could no longer move. In an attempt to untangle herself, Kaze takes a step forward, but finds out the hard way that her ankles were also wrapped together. She falls headfirst into the coffee table, letting out a yelp. Max's eyes widen and he rushes to her side.

"Are you ok, Kaze?" he takes her barely visible hand and lift her to her feet. Kaze's eyes, the only things visible from behind the cord, clearly show her pain, and thankfulness.

"Cood vou help me out of vis, Mx?" she manages to say. Max holds back his laughter as he grabs one end of the cord and slowly unwinds her. Soon, Kaze emerges from the mummying Christmas lights. Max tosses them from the floor as she gingerly rubs her forehead.

"Thanks Max. Let's put them up so that this happens to anyone else."

"Ok," Max agrees, and the two begin to set up the lights.

…

Kai set the rake against the side of the dojo and silently slipped into the house through the front door. Immediately, he was hit with the smell of pumpkin pie. And it smelled good. He stepped noiselessly into the back of the kitchen, and leaned against the wall. He watched Tenshi bustling around the room, picking up two pies and placing them in the oven, then letting out a huge sigh.

"Two down, two to go…" she says under her breath and then turns back to the counter. Her chestnut brown hair was pulled into a tight bun, though her icy blue bangs still hung down in front of her face. She took a chunk of dough and sprinkled flour on it, then began rolling it into a thin layer. How could she be this dedicated? Man, if he was assigned to cook four pies…well, he'd probably force Tyson to do it.

Kai pushed off from the wall when Tenshi wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. He paused a foot away from her. "Tenshi," he said quietly. But even with the silent greeting, she jumped, whipped around, and dropped the rolling pin. Kai stooped to catch it before it hit her foot, then placed it back on the counter.

"Way to scare somebody, Kai! How long have to been standing there?!" Tenshi gapes as she looks up at Kai with a frown.

"Long enough."

After scowling at him a while longer, she finally turns back to the counter. "Well, I need to get back to work. Times-a-ticking. And Thanksgiving is getting closer with every second that goes by." She continues rolling the dough. Kai places one hand on her shoulder.

"You need a break, Tenshi," he speaks. She turns back to him.

"Kai, these pies need to get done. I won't have time to do them tomorrow," she retorts.

"But you don't have to overwork yourself. Take a break." Kai says again, neither of them giving up the glaring contest before Tenshi raises an eyebrow.

"Kai Hiwatari telling me to take a break? And I thought I'd seen it all." Tenshi throws her hand up in the air and shakes her head. "But a break does sound nice. But, what shall I do on this break?"

He turns his head to the window leading outside. "The last part of raking needs two people. You want to be that second person?"

"Raking…hm…well, I guess so. As long as I can get out of this hot kitchen." Tenshi turns to the doorway of the kitchen. "Sai-chan!" she calls.

Soon the laughing from the other side of the house gets louder as Saitori's grinning face pops into the doorway. "Yes, Tenshi?" The girl brings the twins into the kitchen.

"Would you mind keeping watch over the pies and finishing up in here?" Tenshi asks her friend.

The curly-haired girl looks from Kai to Tenshi. "No problem. Kidate and Kaname can help, too. Can't you guys?" She looks down at the twins and they both grin and run forward to the counter.

"Thanks, Sai-chan, you too, guys." Tenshi bends down and pats both on the head. The blue-banged teen then looks up at Kai with a smile and grabs her jacket and scarf from the chair and heads outside. Kai follows her, but pauses to nod at Saitori as he leaves.

Outside, Kai and Tenshi stroll around the house to the backyard. Tenshi shivers and looks at Kai. "You can't tell me you're not cold." She motions to his short sleeves. He shakes his head, but looks at her more warmly than he did inside…if crimson could be any warmer than it already was. She smiles back at him, but wraps her scarf a little tighter around her neck and chin.

"Does Saitori seem a little sad to you?" he asks as they continue to walk forward. Tenshi raises an eyebrow.

"Um, 'Saitori' and 'sad' don't belong together in the same sentence." Tenshi looks forward and freezes as she spots a humongous pile of leaves. "Whoa! You raked all of those, Kai?" He merely nods as Tenshi races forward to admire the large pile. Kai comes behind her and smirks as he lightly pushed her forward. She loses her balance and lets out a yelp as she collides with the pile, leaves crunching underneath her. She glares u at his smirking face. "That wasn't fair."

"The element of surprise is always fair." He shrugs. Tenshi stands and attempts to push him into the leaves, but his body wouldn't budge. Eventually, she gives up and falls backward into the pile and stares up at the sky. He looks down at her, then sits in the pile next to her, also looking up at the darkening sky.

Tenshi reaches up as if to touch the sky. "Have you ever felt like you could just reach up and touch one of the stars?" she asks, absently. Kai turns his head to look at her and raises a questioning brow. "I mean, don't you ever feel like something's up there, so close, but yet so far, that you try to reach up and touch it? Then you get hit with the harsh reality that you're still here on earth." Kai lets out a breath of air then looks back up.

"Sometimes. It's even worse if you know that Tyson is there waiting for you."

Tenshi snickers. "But even though you're on different teams now, you still get dragged into things like this where the Bladebreakers reunite for a few days. Do you mind that?"

"It's ok. It is a perk when I know some other people are going to be here, though." He looks back over at Tenshi. "What about you? Do you enjoy being 'dragged into' these kind of things?"

"I actually do. I like things that happen out of the blue. It makes it so life isn't so boring." Tenshi says, still looking up at the starry, dusky sky. "Besides, our teams seemed to get pretty close during the tournament. It would break their hearts if I didn't agree to come out to Tokyo. We needed a vacation."

Ka nods." The Blitzkreig Boys can get pretty annoying sometimes. Even though it took some persuasion form Max to come for Thanksgiving, I kind of wanted to get away from it all. Just to relax in a familiar place." Kai says into the darkening night.

"How's Russia without the bustle of the tournament? Is it still cold" Tenshi asks.

"It's always cold. But it is a lot different without the tournament going on. We still have to dodge the occasional fangirl…" his voice trails off. Then he turns to her with a questioning look. "There's something I've been wondering. How was it that your team caused such a change in everybody? You didn't act like any rookie team from before."

Tenshi shrugs. "idk. We're just special, I guess." She heard her own smile in her voice.

"One other thing I noticed." Kai takes Tenshi's still-reaching hand and pulls her up to a sitting position. "There's no other girl in Russia like-"

"Tenshi! Kai! Sakura just called and said they're on their way back home." Saitori's voice called form the backdoor, then her face disappears as the doorbell rings from inside.

Tenshi stands up in a flash. "Shoot. I forgot! I need to cook dinner!" she says brushing the leaves form her back. Kai stands silently and watches her rushing around. He reaches for something by her ear, his light touch stops her movement altogether.

"Calm down, Tenshi. I asked Rei to bring us home something to eat so you wouldn't have to cook. Tomorrow's going to be tough enough for you, am I right?" he looks intently at her as he pulls a leaf from her chestnut hair that had fallen from the neat bun it was just in before. Tenshi looks at him as he twirls the leaf between his thumb and index finger. She lets out a big sigh of relief.

"Thanks."

"Besides, we need to finish raking these leaves up into the bags." Kai says, a small smile on his face as he breaks his gaze and looks at the pile.

After the two were done putting the filled bags by the street, they headed inside to where Saitori was just placing the rolling [in and dirty dishes into the sink.

"I just finished. Kidate and Kaname's mom came a few minutes ago to pick them up" Saitori turns to face the two as Tenshi glomps her friend.

"Thank you, Sai-chan!" she grins.

"Whoa! It looks like we finished decorating just in time! Is that pumpkin pie?" Max and Kaze appear in the kitchen, Max eyeing the steamy pies on the counter. Immediately, Tenshi sees the bump on Kaze's forehead.

"Do you need some ice, Kaze?" she asks, moving past Kai, into the freezer.

"We're home!" Sakura's voice calls as the front door slides open.

"Can we eat now?" Tyson complains as the four shoppers pile into the kitchen, also.

"Tyson, just wait a few minutes longer. We've got to get the groceries in." Rei says calmly, balancing three bags of Chinese food in his arms before setting them down on the table.

The two teams file outside to the car and grab the bags from the trunk, filling the silence with excited chatter about the next day. Saitori sees Hiniku and approaches her.

"Hiniku, are you ok?" she notices her friend's exhausted face.

The shorter girl shakes her head. "Tyson wore me out. Remind me not to go shopping with him next time." Saitori chuckles at her response.

After all the food was put away and the turkey was set on the counter to thaw for the next day, they all sat around the table, passing plates and forks to each other before opening the bags of Chinese food. Dinner was eaten quickly, and they all sauntered back into their respective rooms for the night, tuckered by the busy day they'd just gone through.

Saitori laid her head down, barely able to keep her eyes open. Her last thought was that she wouldn't be haunted by that horrible dream again.

…

_beepbeep beepbeep beepbeep_

Saitori woke to the urgent sound of an alarm. Half asleep, she swatted at the space by her head where her alarm clock would normally be. Her eyes opened slightly to realize she was narrowly missing Tenshi's sleeping head. Then she looked up at the clock on the wall. '3:00' it said. _What's that sound?_ She closed her eyes yet again and breathed in. She froze. Then she sat up, eyes wide open now. She sniffed the air again.

It was unmistakable now.

Smoke.

She stood in a flash, breathing quickening. Where was it coming from? It was too faint to be from the dojo. In a second flat, she raced into the hallway, looking around frantically. Then she heard a noise. A door creaking open. Saitori turned to see Kai, also wide awake, sticking his head out of the other bedroom door. With a quick exchange of glances, they nodded to each other and returned to their teams in a flash. Wherever the smoke was coming from, they all needed to get out of the house.

Saitori crashed into the room, only waking Kaze in the far corner.

"What is it, Saitori?" she asked, immediately seeing the panic in her friend's face.

"Fire." She answered breathlessly, and bent down to wake Sakura and Tenshi, shaking their shoulders swiftly. Kaze saw her hands shaking as she reached for her teammates. Then the word registered in her mind.

"Fire! Where?!" Kaze asks, realizing the desperation of the situation. She too reaches for Hiniku, the closest one to her, trying to wake her.

"I don't know, but we've got to get out of the house." Saitori speaks rapidly, her voice filled with dread as the sisters finally awake.

"Sai-chan…what's wrong?" Tenshi yawns.

"What's going on?" Sakura frowns, seeing the difference in Saitori's face.

"No time to talk. We've got to get outside, **now**." She responds quickly, looking over at Hiniku as she stirred awake. Sakura and Tenshi look at each other. They'd never seen this side of Saitori. But they didn't question her judgment, and raced out of the room, Kaze and Hiniku following close behind.

The Bladebreakers were already outside as the team joined them, most of them alert now. Saitori sniffed the air again, and heard the alarm get louder as the exited the house. The night air wasn't as cold as it should have been. It was much warmer. In fact it was too hot. She almost felt burned as she walked into the front yard. She looked up and saw the gray smoke billowing in the sky.

_Oh my gosh._ she thought as she sprinted forward, out of the Granger's front yard and into the street. Her features were frozen in dread as she looked up and beheld the familiar sight of a burning house. Only this time, it wasn't her own.

It was the Nintai's.

The teams followed her, staring up in wonderment at the house. Saitori looked around and found who she was looking for. She ran up to Mr. and Mrs. Nintai, who were talking to one fireman.

"Mr. Nintai! Are you all right?!" she asks, seeing the fright on the man's face.

The man was talking frantically to the fire chief. "I told you. You have to go in there!"

"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do until my truck of backups get here. More lives could be at stake." The fireman spoke.

It was then that Saitori heard the crying. "Kaname?" she called. She turned to see the young boy clinging to his mother. Tears were running down both of their faces.

"Kidate!" was all Saitori could make out of the wailing boy's sobs. She turns to the mother.

"We didn't notice she wasn't with us when we ran out of the house. She's still in there." Mrs. Nintai said frantically, and Saitori could see the fright in the lady's face.

_Kidate's in there?_ Saitori turned to the burning house wide-eyed.

Kaze stared at Saitori. This was all too familiar. It was just like that night she'd woken up to the sirens and ran outside, shocked to see her neighbor's house burning. She'd looked around for her friend, and heard a lady shouting a name. She was too overwhelmed by the smoke to realize who the lady was calling. But then she'd heard the familiar voice. The frantic, shouting of her friend calling for her dad. Her eyes had widened, and she looked around again for her friend.

Kaze looked over at Saitori. Her face was now looking down as her dark brown eyes distanced. Her teammate swallowed.

The neko-jin continued remembering that night as she looked at the burning house. _"Let me go! I have to save them! Daddy! Mommy! B-kun!"_,her friend had shouted. Kaze had looked to where the voice had come, searching again for her neighbor. She finally spotted her through the thick smoke, just as the house began to rumble. It crumpled to the ground, and her friend had frozen, eyes wide in fright as she yelled 'No'. Kaze had struggled her way to her friend, noticing that her family was nowhere in sight. A lady from an ambulance had put a plastic mask on her friend's face as she led her away from the burning heap of a house. Kaze had called her name, but could not even hear herself over the sirens, water rushing, and licking flames. She'd looked at her friend being guided away, her face covered by the plastic oxygen mask. She tried to approach her, but stopped as she realized the pain-raking sobs shaking her friend's body. But this wasn't what stopped her. Through the tears, Kaze saw the sheer angry pain in her eyes, something she'd never seen before. There was an immediate resolve in her friend's face, her dark brown eyes burned with such a heated passion. This frightened Kaze. She'd watched as the lady led her friend into the ambulance, mask still on her face. Little did she know that that would be the last memory she'd ever have about her childhood friend.

Kaze froze, then looked up at Saitori. Her face was now looking up at the burning house, a different look in her eyes. She saw the same exact burning passion in her eyes that her friend had had before she'd been taken away. Her muscles were tensed and her face hard with determination. _Wait. Saitori couldn't be…_ Kaze looked up at her friend again with widened eyes. But all she saw was the air where she'd just been standing. She looked ahead frantically. "Saitori-!" she yelled just as her teammate, and childhood friend, disappeared into the burning house.

"Kaze! What just happened?!" Hiniku exclaimed. Her eyes were also widened in fright. Tenshi and Sakura ran to their team captain, too. They all saw the shock on her face.

Kaze didn't answer. She ran to the fire chief. "My friend just ran into that burning house! You've got to go get her!"

The man's face frowned. "She what?!"

"She ran in there to save the little girl trapped inside!" Kaze yelled again, voice rising with frantic frustration.

"Why the heck would she do that?" The chief called on his walky-talky for his men to hurry up, realizing this situation was more dangerous than he thought.

Kaze's legs wobbled and she fell to her knees, too frightened to let even a tear escape from her eyes.

"Kaze!" Max exclaimed, coming to her side, making sure she was ok.

The Winged Guardians gathered around their friend, also terrorized by the situation. Sakura fell into Rei's arms, too shocked to realize it. Hiniku clung to Kaze as she stared at the burning house, waiting for Saitori to emerge at any moment. Tenshi stood, shoulders rigid, as she looked on in horror. Kai came behind her, and she looked up at him, hopefully. He looked at her, then broke his gaze and went back to staring at the house. She saw her own pain mirrored in his eyes. Looking back at the flames, seeming to take away yet another person that she loved, she wondered if this time, she'd be able to recover.

_Please let her and Kidate be all right._ She prayed silently.

…

Saitori had taken a deep breath before she entered the burning house. If there was one thing she remembered about that frightful night, was the damaging effects of the smoke. She'd had trouble breathing for two weeks after that. It could mean permanent damage if she got a second dose of smoke.

As she stood on the lawn just before making up her mind to take her chances at the fire, she noticed that only one half of the house was engulfed. If she and Kidate were lucky, the young girl would hopefully be in the safer part of the house. It was only a one floor home, so that helped Kidate's chances at no smoke inhalation than she would have on a higher floor. Saitori only hoped that she wasn't too late.

As she ran through the door, she was immediately hit with the blistering heat of the flames. _Shoot, I've got to get out of here soon, or else I'll literally be melted._ Saitori slammed the front door shut. She knew that if she'd left it open, it would only feed the fire more oxygen, causing it to spread more rapidly.

She could only hold her breath for so long, and soon, she let out her clean air, and breathed in the familiar smoky air that caused her throat to constrict. She clutched her throat, but headed further into the house.

"Kidate! Kidate, where are you?!" Saitori shouted, her breathing becoming ragged. She paused and listened closely, but looked up just as a burning light fixture fell to the floor. She jumped out of the way and navigated through the non-burning side of the house. "Kidate!" she called again. This time, she heard a faint voice coming from one of the back rooms. "Kidate! Keep talking! I'm coming for you, just keep talking." Saitori listened to the voice becoming weaker even as she got closer to the bedroom.

She opened the door swiftly and saw one wall next to a bed literally engulfed. She looked around frantically, and spots a closet. Racing into the blistering hot room, she flings the door open and sees the small girl hugging her knees in the corner of the closet. Tears were streaming down her face as she looked up at Saitori, hope filling her eyes.

Saitori stooped to pick the girl up just as the one wall began to crumble. She held Kidate's head into her shirt as she balanced her, looking around for the safest way of escape. The wall had blocked off the bedroom window, so the only way out was to go back the way she'd come. Holding the trembling girl tighter to her chest, Saitori dashes out and has to jump over some of the licking flames. She knew she was burned, but it didn't matter as long as she got Kidate out safely.

She ran through the kitchen and stopped suddenly as a can of soda fell to the floor. Her eyes widened as she leaped away just as it exploded under the heated pressure of the fire.

Finally, she reached the front door, and flinging it open, she races through, closing it behind her. As she ran forward, toward her friends who seemed to let out a held breath at the same time, toward the sirens and flashy lights that were just now arriving on the scene, she couldn't help but think that finally, she was leaving her past behind in the flames, and running toward her future. Her team met her halfway, almost tackling her in hugs and exclamations.

"Saitori, you stupid idiot! Don't ever do that again!" Hiniku shouts after they finally let their soot-covered friend go.

"I'll try." Saitori smiles, but begins coughing.

"Are you all right, Sai-chan?" Tenshi asks, worriedly. Her friend nods, though still coughs, as she rushes toward the awaiting family. She sets Kidate in her mother's arms. Kidate seemed frightened to let her rescuer go. Kaname hugged his twin, and looked up at Saitori, eyes full of gratitude.

"Thank you, so much." Mr. Nintai says to Saitori. "How can we ever repay you?"

Saitori smiles painfully. "Well…my lungs…are killing me…" she cringes as she breaks out in coughing again. The father motioned to a medic who'd just arrived. She brought an oxygen mask to the teen.

"You saved that little girl's life. I could've never done that." The medic shakes her head. Hiniku came to make sure her friend was still breathing.

"I'm glad you're safe, Saitori." Rei tells the curly-haired girl, and gives her a sincere smile.

"Me, too," she says through the mask.

"Are you sure you're ok now, Kaze?" Max asks again. Kaze nods, but continues to watch her friend. She'd have never known that her long-lost friend would someday grow up and save a two-year-old from a burning building.

Tenshi looks up as Kai comes back to her side. "You have good friends, Tenshi," he said.

Sakura looked at Saitori, shocked. Rei's quote was true._ Stick to your friends. They may be the most important things to you someday_. She realized that her friend's life could have been taken tonight, and she'd have not made up for the quarrel she'd had with her two days ago. She didn't know what she'd do if that'd happened. _Stick to your friends_….Sakura made up her mind. She would.

Tyson's head lifted from his spot on the ground that he'd just been sleeping. "Did I miss something?"

…

Saitori sat at the Thanksgiving table, Kidate in the chair right next to her. The young girl had refused to leave the curly-haired teen's side all day. Only half of the Nintai's house was left after last night. Grandpa had offered to lend the family two rooms in the dojo until they got back on their feet. They immediately accepted the offer.

As Saitori looked around the table, she saw her friends, ones who didn't judge her of her past. They loved her for who she was. Who could ask for more? Kaze and her had finally reunited after all these years of separation. The Winged Guardians were her family now, and she would stick to them like glue.

She looked outside the dining room window toward the remains of the Nintai's house. Even in the cold weather, a single purple flower bloomed in the black ashes on the ground.

* * *

**Even in the worst of situations, when things seemed hopeless, something beautiful can grow. Stick to your friends and family, because they will be the most important thing to you. Show your thanks to them this season by doing little things for them. Show them that you love them. I hope you all enjoyed my Thanksgiving story. And please, don't go running into any burning buildings anytime soon. Please have a safe holiday weekend.**

**Fin**


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